
NASON H ARNOLD 

Is* 





























































































RUSTY'S TRAVELS 

A LITTLE DOG’S PART IN 
A VACATION 













Rusty watched with them the changing scene. 

—Page 257. 















Rusty’s Travels 

A Little Dog’s Part in 
a Vacation 

By NASON H. ARNOLD 

Author of “Rusty” 


Illustrated by 

GRISWOLD TYNG 



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BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD GO. 


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Copy 


Copyright, 1931, 

By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 

All Rights Reserved 

Rusty’s Travels 



Printed in U. S. A. 


SEP 18 1931' > 

©CIA 42441 




To My Wife 






CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

page 

I. 

Rusty Suspects Something 

. 11 

II. 

Rusty Selects the Route 

. 32 

III. 

Rusty Makes a Friend 

. 52 

IV. 

Rusty Gathers Eggs 

. 71 

V. 

Rusty Finds Bunny . 

. 90 

VI. 

Rusty’s Blue Day 

. 110 

VII. 

Rusty Meets Piggy . 

. 132 

VIII. 

Rusty Shows Off 

. 148 

IX. 

Rusty Puzzles His Master 

. 168 

X. 

Rusty Meets Peter . 

. 182 

XI. 

Rusty Is Satisfied . 

. 199 

XII. 

Rusty Goes to the Circus 

. 213 

XIII. 

Rusty and the Elephant 

. 231 

XIV. 

Rusty Sees the Turtles . 

. 247 

XV. 

Rusty Arrives Home Again 

. 261 


7 
















ILLUSTRATIONS 


Rusty watched with them the changing 

scene (Page 257) . . Frontispiece 

PAGE 

General manager . . . . .11 

At the table . . . . . .18 

“ There it is, under him! ” . .50 

Rusty nearly leaped out of the car . 62 

They would turn tail and run . . 88 

He strained every muscle . . .101 

Rusty offered prayer . . . .125 

Rusty leaped over his little mistress . 140 

He went through more acrobatics . .159 

“ I can pick up eggs anywhere ” . . 178 

“ He allows no dogs nor cats on that 

piazza ”...... 190 

Popped his head out .... 203 

Rusty went to the rescue ... . 228 

He turned a complete back somersault . 238 

He had made one wild leap for the log . 258 

Swam with all his speed . . . 265 

Rusty was nearly beside himself . .272 

9 





Rusty’s Travels 

A Little Dog’s Part in 
a Vacation 

CHAPTER I 

RUSTY SUSPECTS SOMETHING 

Arthur Abbott was either nervous or 
excited. That was perfectly plain to 
Mrs. Abbott the minute he came into his 



GENERAL MANAGER 

11 




12 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


home late in the afternoon. Betty was 
still playing out of doors with Jennie and 
Pauline, and Rusty, the Abbotts’ little 
black spaniel, now two years of age and 
general manager of the Abbott house¬ 
hold, was with Betty and her friends. 

“ Y r ou look excited, Arthur,” his wife 
said as she smiled up at him. Then her 
expression changed quickly as she asked, 
“ Or are you worried? Isn’t business go¬ 
ing all right? ” 

“ Y r ou say I am excited,” Mr. Abbott 
laughed, giving his wife a hug and a kiss. 
“ How you talk! What should I be ex¬ 
cited about? I’ve been coming home to 
you for some years always just like this. 
As for business, it’s going along as well 
as any business is at this time. No, Mrs. 
Abbott, I’m not worried about anything.” 

“ I’m glad of that. Now tell me what 
you are excited about. I’ve known you 
for quite a few years, my dear, and I 
know when something unusual has hap- 


RUSTY SUSPECTS SOMETHING 13 

pened or is about to happen. You cannot 
conceal it.” 

“ S-sh,” he warned. “ The walls of this 
house have ears,” he whispered dramati¬ 
cally. “ .Where is Betty and where is that 
dog? ” 

Mrs. Abbott laughed happily now that 
she knew there was nothing wrong. 
“ Betty and Rusty are both out playing 
with Jennie and Pauline, but they will be 
in any minute now.” 

“ I thought so. And I don’t intend to 
be interrupted or tell anything to them 
yet. Nothing is certain. I’ll tell you the 
minute we get them securely tucked into 
bed. Now don’t bother me any more. 
I’ve got to act naturally, or Betty will 
know there is something doing and I shall 
have no peace.” 

He pushed his way by his happily smil¬ 
ing wife, hung his coat and hat in the hall 
closet, kissed her once more as he passed 
her while she stood in the hall watching 


14 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


him with loving eyes. Whistling a tune¬ 
less tune off-key, Mr. Abbott mounted 
the stairs to prepare for the evening meal 
just as the outer door opened for Betty 
and Rusty to enter noisily from their 
play. 

Betty, an outdoor girl, big for her age, 
began chattering about her play with the 
boundless enthusiasm of a healthy young 
person for whom life is filled with good 
things. Rusty sat close at her side, watch¬ 
ing his big mistress to see whether she un¬ 
derstood what was being told her. 

Mrs. Abbott listened, as she did every 
day, to the exciting tales of the doings of 
her daughter and their friends, which in¬ 
cluded Rusty, for the black spaniel with 
one rusty spot at his throat that gave him 
his name could no more be left out of the 
play of the neighborhood than the sun 
could fail to shine on a cloudless day. 

Mrs. Abbott finally interrupted the 
story with the suggestion that her daugh- 


RUSTY SUSPECTS SOMETHING 15 


ter prepare for dinner, remarking that 
Father was home and undoubtedly was 
very hungry. 

Accordingly, Betty, who never seemed 
to move with decorum but always rushed 
from one thing to another, hung up her 
coat and tossed her beret at a hook before 
hurrying upstairs to her own bathroom. 
Invariably Rusty followed to superintend 
the important operation of getting ready 
for a meal. Meals were very, very im¬ 
portant in his life. But this time he 
stopped when part way up the stairs to 
look through the railing of the banisters 
at his big mistress. She was standing in 
the hall in deep thought, but with a smile 
on her lips. 

Rusty hesitated, looked to see that 
Betty had gone on, then slowly retraced 
his steps. Walking around in front of 
Mrs. Abbott, he seated himself and 
looked up at her with big question marks 
in his eyes. As she turned to enter the 


16 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


dining-room, she saw him for the first 
time. 

“ Why, Rusty! ” she exclaimed. “ How 
is it that you are not upstairs with Betty? 
I don’t understand. There! She is call¬ 
ing you.” 

Rusty’s tail wagged very slowly, but he 
continued to look questioningly at her, 
paying no attention to Betty’s repeated 
calls. 

“ What is it? ” Mrs. Abbott asked. 
“ Are you sick? Is there something the 
matter with you? Have you and Betty 
had a falling out, and are you looking to 
me for sympathy? ” She stooped and 
gently pulled one of his silky ears. 

Rusty sat motionless. 

After fondling him for a moment, she 
told him to go to Betty and help her get 
ready for dinner, and went into the din¬ 
ing-room. She gave no further thought 
to the actions of the household pet. Or, it 
should be said, to the actions of one of the 


RUSTY SUSPECTS SOMETHING 17 


pets, for, besides Rusty, there was Mit¬ 
tens, the family cat with four white feet 
that looked for all the world as if she had 
drawn on mittens, and there was Rex, the 
huge St. Bernard that spent most of his 
time in the yard or in the garage with 
James, the chauffeur. Rusty alone of the 
pets had the run of the house. And 
Rusty did so many unusual things at such 
unexpected times that it was impossible 
for the mistress of such a large house to 
spend much of her valuable time deciding 
what he meant. She had learned that 
sometime she would know, because Rusty 
had a way of making his desires known. 
He got about everything he wanted, 
which, in the opinion of all but Betty, was 
decidedly more than was right for any 
dog. 

So far as Betty was concerned, that 
evening meal was like almost all others, 
a happy occasion when all shared in the 
telling of the day’s experiences, while 


18 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


Rusty maintained a precarious seat on the 
chair with his little mistress, and grate¬ 
fully accepted a bit of this or that which 
Betty fed him as automatically as she did 
herself. 



at the table 


From his very first day as a puppy in 
this house of the Abbotts, Rusty had sat 
at table, and it was not an infrequent re¬ 
mark on the part of his master that, take 
his actions from first to last, he could give 







RUSTY SUSPECTS SOMETHING 19 


some people he knew pointers on how to 
behave at the table. 

This invariably brought a protest from 
Betty, who claimed that she behaved just 
as well as Rusty. To which her father 
replied that Rusty did not talk all the 
time and ate really very little, although he 
admitted that he did not chew his food, 
but seemed to have no use for his teeth. 

While this meal was no different to 
Betty from any other, Mrs. Abbott wore 
an amused smile, and Rusty twice had to 
have his attention called to a piece of food 
Betty held for him before he accepted it. 
He gave all his attention to his master, 
with an occasional puzzled look at his big 
mistress. 

Rusty knew something was about to 
take place. Usually he could understand 
what was likely to happen. But his ex¬ 
pressive face said to Mrs. Abbott, as 
plainly as anything could be said, that he 
was frankly puzzled, and very anxious to 


20 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


know what was going on in this household 
which he usually managed without the 

slightest trouble. 

% 

Several times Mrs. Abbott tried to 
catch the attention of her husband and 
have him look at Rusty, but he was too 
busily engaged in concealing his own feel¬ 
ings from Betty to pay any attention to 
his wife’s nods and looks. 

The meal over, the family gathered in 
the big living-room as they were accus¬ 
tomed to do when the weather did not per¬ 
mit the use of the piazza. But this late 
fall day with a hint of snow in the air was 
no time to sit out of doors. 

Rusty slowly followed them into the 
room and stretched out in front of the 
fireplace. 

“ Rusty,” cried Betty, “ you haven’t 
had your dinner yet! Go right straight 
into the kitchen to Mandy and have your 
dinner.” 

Rusty regarded her with a mournful 


RUSTY SUSPECTS SOMETHING 21 

expression and slowly wagged his tail— 
but didn’t get up. 

Betty leaped from her chair and ran to 
him. “I do believe you’re sick!” she 
cried, and then looked up at her mother. 
“ He didn’t act like this while he was 
playing with us, and I remember now that 
I had to speak to him at the table two or 
three different times to have him eat 
something.” 

She felt anxiously of his nose. “ His 
nose is cold,” she said with relief. “ He 
can’t have fever. Shall we call the doctor, 
Daddy?” 

Mr. Abbott, who had been busily shak¬ 
ing out the evening paper which he was 
pretending to read, put it down and asked 
what she had said. 

“ Do you think we ought to have the 
doctor for Rusty?” Betty repeated. 
“ He acts so queerly.” 

“ Doctor! Doctor? ” Mr. Abbott was 
puzzled and regarded Rusty with inter- 


22 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


est. “ What’s the matter with him? He 
looks all right to me.” 

“ I don’t believe there is anything seri¬ 
ous the matter with him,” Mrs. Abbott 
offered, smiling wisely. “ Take him out 
to the kitchen, Betty, and you will find he 
will eat his dinner. He seems to be puz¬ 
zled about something. He is just think¬ 
ing, I guess.” 

When Betty, with Rusty tucked under 
one arm, had disappeared in the direction 
of the kitchen Mr. Abbott demanded to 
know what his wife meant by saying that 
the dog was thinking. He laughed at the 
suggestion. 

“ Just what I say, Arthur,” she replied. 
“ When he came in with Betty, I was 
standing in the hall trying to guess what 
you have to tell me after Betty is abed. 
He knew instantly that something was 
out of the ordinary in this household, and 
he didn’t go upstairs with Betty. Instead, 
he sat down in front of me and asked as 


RUSTY SUSPECTS SOMETHING 23 


plainly as a person could, ‘ What’s going 
on here that I don’t know about? ’ ” 

Mr. Abbott grunted derisively, and re¬ 
tired behind his paper as Betty entered 
the room. 

“ I guess he’s all right, after all,” she 
announced happily. “ He is eating just 
as usual.” 

“ I never saw that dog when he couldn’t 
eat,” laughed her father. “ He eats about 
six times a day, steals doughnuts from the 
baker, and gobbles all the Christmas ice 
cream and-” 

But Betty interrupted with a vigorous 
protest that Busty had been only a puppy 
when he did those things, and that it was 
not fair to rake them up against him now 
that he was two years old and always well 
behaved. 

Mr. Abbott replied that he hoped the 
dog would continue to walk the straight 
and narrow path because it was hard to 
teach an old dog that had once gone 



24? 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


wrong how to be a candidate for dog 
heaven. 

Mrs. Abbott suggested that they drop 
the discussion of Rusty and permit Betty 
to do some home work that she was sure 
was waiting to be done. She was busily 
plying her needle on a bit of fancy-work, 
and Mr. Abbott promptly retired behind 
his paper again. But his wife noticed that 
he did not seem to find anything that held 
his attention for more than a moment, be¬ 
cause he was constantly turning and shak¬ 
ing the pages. 

Betty curled up in a big chair at one 
side of the fireplace, in which a chunk of 
wood blazed fitfully. The family all loved 
a fireplace, and used it on the slightest 
excuse, even when the radiators were full 
of steam. 

By the time Betty had got settled, 
Rusty returned, and with a reproachful 
look at Mrs. Abbott walked to the hearth 
and stretched out again in front of the 


RUSTY SUSPECTS SOMETHING 25 


fire, his back to it and his head where he 
could watch every move made by his big 
mistress or his master. 

Betty reached down and pulled one ear, 
asked him if he felt all right, and buried 
her nose in her book. Only Mrs. Abbott 
occasionally glanced at the dog, an 
amused smile playing on her face. 

It came time for Betty to go to bed, 
and she rather unwillingly closed a history 
book which she had unexpectedly found 
to be very interesting, kissed her father, 
and started upstairs. Rusty, his tail mov¬ 
ing very gently, did not stir. For two 
years without fail he had been close at her 
heels when she started for bed, for Rusty 
believed in getting all the sleep possible 
when there was nothing else to do. 

Mrs. Abbott said nothing, but watched 
to see what would happen. Betty, aston¬ 
ished when part way upstairs to find that 
Rusty was not with her, called him. 

Reluctantly Rusty got to his feet and, 


26 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


head and tail down, walked from the room 
slowly. As if it were an effort almost 
beyond his strength, he mounted the 
stairs. 

A low throaty chuckle after Betty’s 
door had closed attracted the attention of 
Mr. Abbott. 

“ What’s the joke? ” he asked. “ Y r ou 
seem to find a great deal to amuse you 
this evening.” 

“ I certainly do,” replied Mrs. Abbott 
in a low tone. “ Arthur, I haven’t the 
slightest idea what it is that you are fairly 
bursting to tell me, but I actually believe 
that dog suspects. There is not the 
slightest thing the matter with him ex¬ 
cept that he senses that there is something 
unusual about to happen, and he is mor¬ 
tally afraid he is not to know what it is.” 

Mr. Abbott laid down his paper and 
threw back his head and laughed heartily. 

“ Bosh! ” he said when he could speak. 
“ You have the same vivid imagination 


RUSTY SUSPECTS SOMETHING 27 


you have had always about anything con¬ 
nected with your family—even me.” 

Mrs. Abbott merely smiled and said, 
“ Wait and see. I’ll go up and make sure 
that Betty gets into bed, for I am very, 
very curious to know what it is you are 
keeping bottled up.” 

“ Well, I shall not tell until I am sure 
we shall not be interrupted, so get Betty 
and that marvelous dog that knows so 
much tucked in, and then come back and 
I’ll unload.” 

While Mrs. Abbott was upstairs, her 
husband paced the floor of the living- 
room, very evidently in an excited state 
of mind. 

“ There,” said Mrs. Abbott as she re¬ 
turned, “ they are both tucked in and just 
about asleep by this time. Now sit down, 
calm yourself, and let me know this great 
secret. How long have you known about 
it? Does it concern us all? Tell me 
everything.” 



28 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


“ If you will calm yourself,” retorted 
her husband, “ and stop asking questions 
I’ll try to tell you, for I am ready to 
explode with it.” 

He settled back in his chair. 

“ It’s something I have been thinking 
about and hoping we could do for two or 
three years.” He sat up abruptly. 
“ Well, will you look at this! I thought 
you said they were asleep.” 

Rusty was walking into the room, his 
tail motionless, those big eyes of his ques¬ 
tioning first his mistress, then his master. 
He seated himself where he could watch 
the faces of both. 

“ Maybe there is something the matter 
with him,” said Mr. Abbott thoughtfully. 
“ I never knew him to come downstairs 
after he had gone to bed with Betty.” 

“ And yet you refuse to believe that he 
knows something unusual is going on and 
that he intends to know what it is,” said 
his wife. “ I know he does. Come, 


RUSTY SUSPECTS SOMETHING 29 


Rusty, and sit here with me and hear all 
about it? ” she said to the little spaniel. 

Rusty looked at her to tell her that he 

« 

had heard, swallowed as if about to speak, 
moved one front paw a trifle, and resumed 
his steady gaze into his master’s face. 

“ You might as well begin your story,” 
Mrs. Abbott said. “ We shall not have 
any more privacy than we have now, and 
you might consider that I have as much 
interest in whatever it is you have to tell 
as Rusty possibly can have. You may be 
bursting to tell, but I shall collapse very 
soon if I do not know what this mighty 
secret of yours is.” 

Mr. Abbott, eyes on Rusty instead of 
on his wife, began again. “ As I started 
to say, I’ve been hoping and planning on 
this for two years, and now I have got 
things so it will work out all right if it 
meets with your approval—and that of 
the dog,” he added with a smile. 

“ Well, what is it? ” Mrs. Abbott de- 



30 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


manded with just a shade of impatience. 
“ It isn’t fair to keep me in suspense any 
longer.” 

“ We are going South for two or three 
months! Drive. It will be great fun. 
I’ve always wanted to, and you will enjoy 
it and so will Betty.” 

Mrs. Abbott exclaimed with delight. 
“ But Arthur, what about business? How 
can you leave? What about Betty’s 
school? What about Mandy and James 
and Rex and Mittens—and Rusty? ” 

Once more Rusty moved his front feet, 
swallowed, looked from his mistress to his 
master. Then he walked to the side of 
Mrs. Abbott, sat down, pressed his body 
hard against her leg, and turned those ap¬ 
pealing eyes of his on his master’s face. 

Mr. Abbott threw up both hands and 
laughed. “ Never mind about the other 
questions. The only important one is 
whether Rusty goes, and all I’ve got to 
say is, he goes if we do.” 



RUSTY SUSPECTS SOMETHING 31 


Rusty said, “ Woof,” very softly, 
looked up gratefully at his mistress as she 
fondled one ear, then briskly trotted from 
the room and pattered up the stairs to his 
blanket on the foot of Betty’s bed. 

Mr. Abbott watched proceedings and 
slowly shook his head. “I’m beginning 
to believe that dog is intelligent,” he said. 
“ Now about business and the rest of your 
questions.” 

They talked long hours without further 
interruption. And when they had fin¬ 
ished, it was definitely settled that they 
would leave for the South in about a week 
—Mr. and Mrs. Abbott, Betty, and 
Rusty. 


CHAPTER II 


RUSTY SELECTS THE ROUTE 

What Rusty had learned the evening 
before, he kept to himself the next morn¬ 
ing. In other words, he acted exactly as 
he did every day, dashing down to break¬ 
fast, then scrambling back to his bed for 
his collar and submitting to having it 
buckled on by Mrs. Abbott. 

“ Rusty seems to be all right, Mother 
dear,” Betty observed, remembering what 
she had thought were symptoms of sick¬ 
ness the evening before. She gave Rusty 
one of her quick hugs which he had 
learned in his two years in the household 
were to be looked for at most unexpected 
times, and for no apparent reason. He 
responded with his customary quick, 
moist kiss when Betty lowered her cheek 
within range of his willing tongue. 

32 


RUSTY SELECTS THE ROUTE 33 


Mrs. Abbott agreed that Rusty seemed 
to have recovered his usual spirits, and 
smiled to herself at the remembrance of 
the actions of their pet which had so dis¬ 
tressed Betty and astonished her husband. 
Rusty looked at her with an expression 
that seemed to warn her about keeping 
their secret. So Betty went to school that 
morning with no knowledge of the long 
journey before her. 

It proved the first of several extremely 
busy days for Rusty. Mrs. Abbott hur¬ 
ried from one thing to another. When 
she hurried and was very busy, Rusty had 
no time to sleep. The unusual always 
demanded his undivided attention. 

That his mistress was very happy was 
perfectly plain, for she hummed or sang 
to herself as she went from closet to closet 
inspecting clothing and bringing out from 
their seclusion dress-suit cases and travel¬ 
ing-bags, all of which required personal 
looking over by Rusty. She accused him 


34 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


of thinking that she was planning to run 
away from him. 

To this, Rusty returned a look of dis¬ 
gust. This activity had every appearance 
to him of preparations for moving to 
camp, away up in the wilds of Vermont, 
and such goings on always required his 
presence. Besides she knew well that it 
had been promised that he was to go with 
them. 

Once she stopped her explorations and 
gave her full attention to Rusty. “ Won’t 
Betty be surprised, Rusty, when she 
learns that we are going South for two 
months, maybe three, and perhaps, just 
perhaps, you understand, for the entire 
winter? ” 

Rusty wriggled away from her to re¬ 
sume his interrupted inspection of an 
open suitcase. It was perfectly plain to 
him that she was talking about the same 
thing that had been under discussion the 
evening before, but it was not to be ex- 


RUSTY SELECTS THE ROUTE 35 


pected that he knew what “ South ” 
meant. He had never heard that word 
until they had had their talk in the living- 
room after Betty had gone to bed. If she 
had said “ camp,” his reaction would have 
been different. That was the place where 
he had the best of times; a whole summer 
of running, swimming, fishing, and boat¬ 
ing with Betty and her friends. But she 
didn’t say “ camp,” so Rusty waited for 
nothing more. It was so utterly foolish 
to talk longer about something that had 
been definitely settled, so far as he was 
concerned. 

It was at luncheon that noon that 
Betty was admitted to the secret of the 
impending journey to an entirely new 
part of the country for all of them. And 
what a time there was! Betty, fairly bub¬ 
bling over with delight, hugged and kissed 
Rusty so vigorously that he forgot him¬ 
self and said, “ Yip! ” twice. Her enthu¬ 
siasm was catching, and Rusty was always 


36 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


ready to catch enthusiasm for anything 
from anybody. 

“ But what about Rex and Mittens and 
Mandy and James? ” Betty asked. 

“What about Rusty?” her father 
asked in return, his eyes twinkling. 

Betty stared at him for an instant, 
hugging the little black spaniel to her, be¬ 
fore she said, “ Where I go, Rusty goes.” 
Then, fearing that there might be some 
doubt about it after all, she appealed to 
her mother. “ Rusty goes, doesn’t he, 
Mother? ” 


Mrs. Abbott smiled at her anxious 
daughter. “ Ask your father,” she re¬ 
plied, casting a look of amusement at her 
husband. 

“ To tell the truth, Betty,” Mr. Abbott 
said, “ I hadn’t given the matter much 
thought until I was about to tell your 
mother last evening after you and Rusty 
had gone to bed. I was just ready to tell 
her, when that dog there left your bed and 


RUSTY SELECTS THE ROUTE 37 


came down and sat where he could watch 
both of us. He knew there was something 
doing, and you didn’t. Aren’t you getting 
to be a little slow, to have a dog know 
more than you do? ” 

“ Not if the dog is Rusty,” Betty re¬ 
plied loyally. “ I knew he must be going, 
because I couldn’t leave him behind.” 

“ But I didn’t say he was going,” her 
father insisted. “ ITe is a terrible nuis¬ 
ance in the car. Besides, he couldn’t sleep 
, in hotels. There is hardly a hotel that 
will allow dogs in the rooms.” 

Betty thought hard for a moment be¬ 
fore replying, her arms still close about 
her pet. 

“ Then Rusty and I will have to sleep 
somewhere else,” she said finally. “ There 
are camps and overnight houses all along 
the main roads. Y r ou know, we see them 
when we take long rides. Even up in 
Vermont, on the way to camp, they have 
them. I guess if there are such places up 


38 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


here in the North, there are more of them 
on the way South.” 

“ It seems to me,” suggested Mrs. Ab¬ 
bott, “ that it is time to stop teasing and 
admit that Rusty is going and that we 
shall all sleep under the same roof, wher¬ 
ever that may be.” 

“ I suppose so,” Mr. Abbott laughed. 
“ I only wish I could be as certain about 
my affairs as Betty and Rusty are about 
things that concern them. We four are 
going,” he said, turning to Betty, “ and 
we will all stick together. We shall find 
places where they will allow Rusty to 
sleep with you or, if we cannot, we will 
just have to make the best of it and curl 
up in the car.” 

“ Wouldn’t that be heaps of fun! ” 
cried Betty, jumping down from her chair 
to give her father a hug and a kiss, while 
Rusty kept his seat waiting for her to re¬ 
turn and finish the meal. It had been 
poor pickings for Rusty so far. 


RUSTY SELECTS THE ROUTE 39 


But Betty was excited, and when she 
did return she ate very little and paid lit¬ 
tle attention to Rusty. Y r et the dog didn’t 
mind very much. If Betty ate, he did. 
If she didn’t eat, he was always willing to 
forego his share because there was a real 
meal waiting for him in the kitchen. 

Suddenly it dawned upon Betty that 
she had no idea where they were to go, 
and it would never do for her to go to 
school that afternoon without being able 
to tell teacher and Jennie and Pauline 
and all the rest of her schoolmates where 
she was to pass the winter. She wanted 
to know all about it. 

“ It’s like this, Betty,” her father re¬ 
sponded in reply to her flood of questions. 
“ I have had an offer of a cottage in an 
orange grove in or near the city of Lake¬ 
land. Both your mother and I have 
wanted to make a trip South, and this, it 
seems, is the chance. You will go to school 
down there and-” 



40 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


“ Oh, I don’t want-to go to school down 
there,” Betty interrupted. “ I want to see 
things and do things just as we do at 
camp. And Rusty will want to, too,” she 
added to clinch her argument. 

“ You cannot afford to lose any terms 
of school,” her father replied, “ and you 
will not miss anything else. Your mother 
and I will not be going anywhere or doing 
anything without taking you along. And 
Rusty, of course,” he added with a broad 
grin. 

Betty thought that going to school 
when away from home was pretty hard, 
but when it was pointed out to her that 
when she came home, if she didn’t keep on 
with her school, she would be so far be¬ 
hind that she would no longer be in the 
same class with Jennie and Pauline, she 
quickly decided that it would be better to 
go to school, even while away from home. 

The discussion had been so long and the 
excitement so general that Betty came 


RUSTY SELECTS THE ROUTE 41 

very near being late for the afternoon ses¬ 
sion. When her mother warned her of 
the flying minutes Betty, forgetting 
all about dessert, rushed around kissing 
her father and mother and hastily don¬ 
ning rubbers, coat, and beret. Rusty sat 
uncertainly in the chair. The idea of her 
leaving without dessert and after a very 
skimpy meal did not meet with his ap¬ 
proval. 

Shouting good-byes, Betty slammed 
the front door. In a moment she was 
back, calling to Rusty to come along and 
go to school with her, for every one there 
would wish to say good-bye to him. There 
was a moment of hesitancy on the part of 
Rusty, something very unusual when 
Betty called. Then he dashed for the 
door. 

Going to school with Betty was noth¬ 
ing new for Rusty. After the first sum¬ 
mer at camp where many exciting things 
had happened, he had been taken to school 


42 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


on the invitation of Miss Judson, the 
teacher of Betty’s grade, because she and 
the children desired to see the little dog 
of which Betty had told them so much. 

Now, after a year under another 
teacher, Miss Judson had been promoted 
two grades and was once more in charge 
of the grade in which Betty, Jennie, and 
Pauline were. And Miss Judson liked 
dogs. So Rusty occasionally went to 
school, and either slept in the aisle near 
Betty’s desk or caught forty winks on 
Teacher’s desk. 

But going to school without having his 
lunch did not meet with Rusty’s full ap¬ 
proval. He obeyed Betty’s command to 
“ heel ” because he had been taught to do 
so, but instead of trotting along, head and 
tail up and keenly alive to everything that 
was going on in the street, he acted as if 
he were very unhappy. 

Betty, filled with the news of the jour¬ 
ney South, wondering about the cottage 


RUSTY SELECTS THE ROUTE 43 


in the orange grove and where they were 
to sleep on the different nights of the 
journey, and where she was to go to 
school, paid no attention to Rusty. She 
never did, because he always followed 
closely. 

Jennie and Pauline were waiting for 
her at their corner and were immediately 
as enthusiastic as Betty over the astonish¬ 
ing news she had to tell. Usually thej^ 
spoke to Rusty, and he always greeted 
them affectionately. But this afternoon 
they were too busy discussing the news to 
pay attention to him. 

For the first time in his life, Rusty was 
grumpy. Betty had called him and he had 
gone with her because he always obeyed 
orders. But he couldn’t understand why 
no one of them paid the slightest atten¬ 
tion to him. It just wasn’t fair. He 
lagged a little behind, then stopped and 
looked back. Cook would wonder why he 
hadn’t followed the second-girl out to the 


44 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


kitchen to eat the lunch that he knew was 
waiting for him. Besides, he was hungry. 
Betty had given him only two or three 
bites at the table instead of many. Noth¬ 
ing was right this afternoon. He decided 
that he would not go to school. 

It was Jennie who remembered that she 
had not spoken to Rusty, and she looked 
around to find him standing fifty yards 
behind them, half turned as if to go back 
home. 

“Why, Rusty!” she exclaimed. 
“ What are jmu doing ’way back there? ” 
Betty and Pauline stopped in aston¬ 
ishment. Betty ran back, calling, 
“Rusty. Rusty! I never knew you to 
do this before. What is the matter? ” 
Rusty sat down, swallowed, and licked 
his jaws, looked quickly up at his mistress, 
and then away. Rusty was very much 
offended, and he didn’t mind a bit who 
knew it. In fact, he wanted every one to 
know it. This going to school with no one 


RUSTY SELECTS THE ROUTE 45 


paying him any attention, and without his 
lunch, too, was no joke. 

The three girls stooped and petted him, 
talking to him to try to find out why, for 
the first time, he should have failed to fol¬ 
low closely. But Rusty stubbornly sat 
there. Betty took him by the collar to 
try to make him walk with her, but he 
made her drag him. 

Tears rushed to Betty’s eyes, and Jen¬ 
nie and Pauline were much distressed, for 
they were almost as fond of Rusty as was 
his little mistress. Betty again stooped 
and a great big tear dropped squarely on 
Rusty’s nose. That was enough for him. 
He had seen Betty cry at different times 
and he had always made it his business to 
comfort her. He forgot about his hunger, 
raised his head quickly and kissed her, 
showing plainly that he was willing to go 
along with them as if nothing had hap¬ 
pened. And he did. But the three girls, 
still not understanding what could have 


46 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


been the reason for his stopping, kept a 
close watch on him the rest of the way to 
school. 

It certainly was a surprise that Betty 
had for Miss Judson when she told her 
that the Abbott family and Rusty were 
to start in a few days for the South, per¬ 
haps for all winter. Miss Judson said 
such a trip would be a wonderful experi¬ 
ence, and promised to give Betty informa¬ 
tion for her teacher which would aid her 
in placing Betty in the right classes. 
Rusty was lifted to Miss Judson’s desk, 
and was thankful that she always had a 
cracker or two in a drawer especially for 
him, for it saved him from actually starv¬ 
ing to death during a very long after¬ 
noon. 

“ Whaffo’ you go off widout yo’ 
lunch? ” Mandy demanded when Rusty 
dashed into the kitchen as soon as he got 
home from school. “ Don’ yo’ know no 
better dan dat? ” she asked him as he be- 


RUSTY SELECTS THE ROUTE 47 


gan actually gobbling his meal that had 
been waiting for him ever since noon. 

“ I jes’ heard yo’ is gwine South wid de 
folks, an’ I’d lak to know who’s gwine to 
get yo’ meals. ’Specially,” she continued 
with a sniff, “ ef yo’ is cornin’ for dem 
whenever yo’ is good an’ ready. Nobody 
else is gwine to keep a dog’s dinner nice 
for him till he gets ’round to eat it. I’se 
tellin’ yo’ now, if yo’ is late to any mo’ 
meals in dis yer house, you’ll go widout 
eatin’ till de next meal is ready. Yo’ un- 
nerstan’ dat.” 

Rusty long since had learned that 
Cook’s talk might sound bad, but that she 
didn’t mean it, so far as he was con¬ 
cerned. He didn’t mind her daily scold¬ 
ings, so he kept on eating as only a hun¬ 
gry dog that had had nothing to eat from 
breakfast until almost four o’clock, except 
two crackers and three very small bites of 
Betty’s lunch, can eat. And that is very, 
very fast. 


48 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


At last, satisfied that not a morsel had 
been left on the plate, he backed away, 
licked his mouth clean, and cocked his 
head inquiringly at Cook to know whether 
she had forgotten that he had missed des¬ 
sert as well as the more substantial part 
of the meal. Rusty loved desserts. 

“No, sir,” Cook told him without look¬ 
ing up from her work of mixing dough 
for biscuits. “ Dat’s pos’tively all yo’ is 
gwine get. An’ I’m tellin’ yo’ right now 
dey ain’t nobody but me who’d kep’ yo’ 
dinner waitin’ all dis time. Y r o’ go ’long 
’bout yo’ business an’ don’ be late for sup¬ 
per, or you ain’t gwine hab any.” 

Rusty, of course, couldn’t understand 
all that was said to him, but he could un¬ 
derstand the meaning. He inspected his 
dish once more to be certain that his des¬ 
sert had not in some mysterious manner 
got on his plate without his seeing it, sat 
up solemnly, and offered to shake hands. 

“ Ma’ hand’s all dough,” Cook told him. 


RUSTY SELECTS THE ROUTE 49 


but she took hold of a corner of her apron, 
and with that shook hands with Rusty and 
told him once more to go along about his 
business and stop bothering her. 

So Rusty charged the swing door into 
the butler’s pantry and shot through it, as 
he had learned to do after pinching his 
tail several times because he was too slow. 
He went in search of Mrs. Abbott and 
found her and his master, unexpectedly 
home early, with maps and papers spread 
out on a table, trying to decide what route 
to take to Lakeland. 

Rusty spoke very softly to attract their 
attention. Everybody but Cook seemed 
to ignore him. 

“ I suppose we might leave it to the 
dog,” said Mr. Abbott. “ He has decided 
about everything for this family for two 
years. Probably he could select the best 
route.” 

Mrs. Abbott laughed, and went on trac¬ 
ing with a pencil a route down through 


50 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


the States that would take them to their 
destination. 

Rusty, a little sleepy after his hearty 
but belated meal, watched the proceedings 



THERE IT IS, UNDER HIM ! ” 


for a moment before flopping down for a 
nap. 

“ Where’s that Rand-McNally map we 
had a minute ago? ” Mr. Abbott asked, 
shuffling the maps on the table. They 









RUSTY SELECTS THE ROUTE 51 

both hunted several minutes before Mr. 
Abbott shouted with laughter. 

“ I told you,” he exclaimed, “ that the 
dog would settle it! There it is, under 
him! ” 

So that was how they finally decided to 
go by the route they had marked on that 
particular map. 


CHAPTER III 


RUSTY MAKES A FRIEND 

The next week in the Abbott house¬ 
hold was a nightmare. Mr. Abbott said 
so, and he ought to have known. Mrs. 
Abbott called it hectic. Betty told every 
one it was exciting. Rusty, if you had 
asked him and he could have described his 
feelings, would have declared it to have 
been a three-ring circus. 

Rusty thought it better in every way 
than getting ready for camp, because 
there was much more being done in which 
he could interfere. He didn’t go to bed 
with Betty. No amount of coaxing would 
induce him to leave the excitement down¬ 
stairs where planning and packing was 
going on after Betty retired. He insisted 
on being on hand. “ Under foot,” Mr. 
Abbott called it. 


52 


RUSTY MAKES A FRIEND 


53 


Everything was topsy-turvy in the 
house and, so far as Betty was concerned, 
at school also. She just could not study, 
and Miss Judson, a very wise young 
teacher, did not bother Rusty’s little mis¬ 
tress. She was young enough to under¬ 
stand. 

One day the door-bell rang. Rusty left 
Mrs. Abbott in her bedroom to get along 
as well as she could without his aid, and 
dashed for the front hall to escort the 
caller into the big room. When Sarah 
opened the door, Rusty’s tail instantly 
stopped wagging. Two strange ladies 
stood there. Rusty knew at once that one 
of them and possibly both did not like lit¬ 
tle dogs. He did not guide them to the 
easy-chairs, but immediately mounted the 
stairs to give further aid to Mrs. Abbott. 

Even when he heard her talking excit¬ 
edly with them, he remained upstairs and 
finished sorting some clothing she had 
been arranging. His work, he learned 


54 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


later, did not please his mistress. But it 
had been fun. He had handled each gar¬ 
ment carefully, merely piled them differ¬ 
ently. 

“ You see, Busty,” said Betty that eve¬ 
ning while they were preparing to retire, 
although Rusty had no intention of re¬ 
maining after Betty got into bed, “ Aunt 
Carrie and her friend, Miss Wisters, have 
come from New York to live here while 
we are down South. Daddy and Mother 
do not wish to leave the house shut up, 
so they are going to live in it for us. 
Mandy and Sarah will stay, and so will 
James to see to things and care for Rex, 
and to take them riding in the other car 
when the weather is not too cold for them. 
It is a beautiful arrangement, even if 
Miss Wisters does not like dogs. Y r ou 
don’t mind that very much, do vou? ” 

“ Yip,” said Rusty. 

“ I knew you didn’t, because it will be 
only one more day before we are gone.” 


RUSTY MAKES A FRIEND 


55 


Rusty listened to this long explanation 
with a bored expression, and kissed Betty 
gratefully at its conclusion. He was quite 
accustomed to long stories from Betty, 
and was always pleased when they were 
ended, for Betty was particular that he 
did not doze off while she was talking to 
him. 

It was the second morning after this 
explanation of the appearance of the two 
strange ladies that Rusty, who had had an 
especially strenuous day the day before, 
poked his head out from under his blanket 
to discover that Betty was gone. Sounds 
from downstairs told him plainly that 
every one but Rusty was eating breakfast. 

One bound, one shake, and he was on 
his way. 

bottom of the stairs and slid to the front 
door before being able to turn and dash 
for the dining-room, he had forgotten how 
provoked he was at Betty for leaving him 
behind. She had never done that before. 


By the time he had reached the 


56 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


“ I told you! ” exclaimed Mr. Abbott, 
as Rusty scrambled to his place beside 
Betty on her chair, unmindful of the sniff 
he was sure he heard Miss Wisters give. 
“It is impossible to get a start on any¬ 
thing without that dog being under foot. 
I thought if we could eat and get the car 
packed we might escape without breaking 
a leg by falling over him. But here he is. 
No, I mean there he goes! ” 

The last sentence was prompted by 
Rusty’s sudden leaping from Betty’s 
chair and standing up at the window. He 
had heard some slight noise out in the 
drive, and had discovered the big car 
standing there. He had to know at once 
whether James was on the seat and ready 
to go. 

Betty called him back, and Mrs. Ab¬ 
bott reminded him that he was not dressed 
and could neither have any breakfast nor 
go anywhere with them until he was wear¬ 
ing his collar. He made the quickest 


RUSTY MAKES A FRIEND 


57 


round trip to his bed on record, and could 
not stand still while Mrs. Abbott buckled 
it on. 

. Another dash to the window to make 
certain that James was not waiting for 
him was followed by a few hurried bites 
with Betty, who was not eating much 
herself. 

He listened attentively while Mr. Ab¬ 
bott explained that he expected to get 
over Bear Mountain bridge sometime in 
the afternoon if the going were not too 
bad in the cold, sleety rain that was begin¬ 
ning to fall. “ We will spend the first 
night in New York State somewhere,” he 
said, “ go through Delaware Water Gap 
the next morning, and be well on our way 
to the land of oranges and alligators. I 
hope that suits Rusty.” He grinned at 
the dog. 

“ Woof,” said Rusty very softly, and 
looked his astonishment when Miss Wis- 
ters jumped and exclaimed, “ My stars! 


58 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


That clog is the noisiest animal I ever 
saw.” 

“ Well, come on. Let’s get going,” 
saicl Mr. Abbott as he rose from the table. 

Rusty was at the side door in two 
jumps, and when Mr. Abbott opened it 
to call James to aid in packing the car, 
Rusty shot out and leaped on the run¬ 
ning-board. Mr. Abbott sighed and 
opened the car door. Rusty immediately 
leaped to his seat in front. 

It had been settled several evenings be¬ 
fore that he was to go, and he intended 
that nothing should make him budge from 
his seat. During all the commotion of 
packing and rearranging suitcases, grips, 
and bundles in the back, Rusty never once 
turned his head. He maintained the stiff 
attitude of a footman, looking neither to 
the right nor the left. 

Suddenly Mr. Abbott reached in, 
tucked Rusty under one arm and marched 
into the house. Rusty could not under- 


RUSTY MAKES A FRIEND 


59 


stand such treatment. He was very much 
offended. Carried directly into the 
kitchen he was astonished to find Betty 
seated at Mandy’s table mournfully try¬ 
ing to drink a glass of milk, and what 
Mandy called “ peckin’ ” at cereal. 

“ Now, sir,” said Mr. Abbott severely, 
“ we shall not budge one inch until you 
and that young lady there eat breakfast. 
The quicker you begin, the sooner we shall 
get started. I’ll sit down and drink an¬ 
other cup of coffee, so you might as well 
make up your mind to eat.” 

Rusty didn’t pretend to understand 
everything that was said. But actions 
spoke louder than words, and when the 
others ate he took a chance. Before Rusty 
knew it, he had “ licked the platter clean.” 
Betty, too, had managed to drink her milk 
and eat most of her cereal. Five minutes 
later they were on their way to a long 
series of adventures. 

Both Rusty and Betty were getting 


60 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


very hungry when Mr. Abbott stopped at 
a restaurant in a small city. Betty picked 
up Rusty to prevent him from getting his 
feet dirty, and they took their seats at a 
table, Rusty of course seated with his lit¬ 
tle mistress. 

The proprietor said something in a low 
tone to Rusty’s master which caused Mr. 
Abbott to rise immediately, saying that 
he had no desire to break any rules and 
they would lunch elsewhere. Rusty knew 
something was wrong but, while he had 
never eaten in a restaurant before, he 
knew that he had done nothing to cause 
a disturbance and he was very, very hun¬ 
gry. The waiter hovered about to learn 
whether he was to serve them. He knew 
dogs, and petted Rusty and asked Betty 
about him. 

After some further low-toned conver¬ 
sation, Mr. Abbott seated himself again, 
having reached some understanding with 
the proprietor. Betty and Rusty ate their 


RUSTY MAKES A FRIEND 61 

meal as usual to the amusement of other 
diners. Later, with a paper spread on 
the floor, Rusty enjoyed a more substan¬ 
tial repast from the dish the friendly 
waiter brought him. 

Rusty, riding most of the time on the 
back seat with Betty, but occasionally in 
Mrs. Abbott’s lap on the front seat, was 
standing on Betty’s lap leaning from the 
window one day as the car moved slowly 
between cotton fields in Virginia, when he 
caught sight of a fat colored woman 
standing in the doorway of a cabin. 

With a delighted bark Rusty nearly 
leaped out of the car, Betty with a cry of 
astonishment seizing him just in time. 

“ He almost jumped right out of the 
automobile,” she explained to her father 
who had jammed on the brakes upon hear¬ 
ing her cry. 

“He thought that colored woman was 
Mandy,” laughed Mr. Abbott. “ We 
must watch him, or he will follow off some 


62 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


one of them, thinking he is to get some¬ 
thing to eat. He thinks no one but col¬ 
ored women feed him.” 



RUSTY NEARLY LEAPED OUT OF THE CAR 

“ I’m not colored,” protested Betty, 
“ and I feed him every meal.” 

“ I notice that he seems to need some¬ 
thing more,” Mr. Abbott laughed. 

They were rolling along at a fast pace 
just at dusk one evening when Rusty was 



































RUSTY MAKES A FRIEND 


63 


aroused by the squealing of the brakes 
and an exclamation from his big mistress. 
He sprang to look out and saw a mother 
goat followed by several tiny kids cross¬ 
ing the highway. 

“ Yip, yip! ” Rusty called to tell them 
he was in a hurry. All he got for his 
pains was more delay, for the nanny 
stopped short and laughed at him, which 
was very irritating. It was some time be¬ 
fore Rusty stopped grumbling to himself 
about what the goat had said. He must 
have understood the language better than 
the others, for they all thought it a great 
joke. 

Rusty had one other adventure with a 
black squirrel in a huge cage in a restau¬ 
rant where they lunched the next noon. 
The squirrel was unlike his cousins that 
Rusty had seen and been accustomed to 
scold at camp. He was all black except 
for white ears and nose and the gray tip 
of his tail. Rusty wanted very much to 


64 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


talk about it, especially as the squirrel 
dashed up and down the tree in the cage 
and chattered at Rusty every minute he 
was in the room. But Betty would not 
allow him to talk back. 

But as soon as he was out in the car and 
could see the squirrel in the window. 
Rusty told him several things, including 
his opinion that a black squirrel was not 
nearly so good-looking as his gray cousins 
of the North. Rusty was still talking 
about it long after they had left the scene 
and had other things to see. 

He had never been on such a long drive 
before, and he found it difficult to under¬ 
stand how it happened that each night 
they slept in a different room, where he 
had to look all around before he could set¬ 
tle down to sleep. Neither did he under¬ 
stand why it was that he was always on 
the end of a leash in the strange places 
where he walked with them before retir¬ 
ing at night. He couldn’t understand 


RUSTY MAKES A FRIEND 


65 


that Mr. Abbott feared that he might be¬ 
come lost. 

Rusty was hanging out of the window 
one day, barking at every cow and calf 
that seemed to find the best pasturage at 
the edge of the highway, when they 
passed a signboard that told them Lake¬ 
land was only seven miles beyond. 

They stopped once to ask a policeman 
the way, and Rusty kissed his hand in re¬ 
turn for a friendly pat. At last they 
turned into a driveway and drove up to a 
pretty cottage in an orange grove. 

All eyes were turned on their future 
home. 

“ Y r ip,” said Rusty. 

“ Always the first to approve,” re¬ 
marked Mr. Abbott. “ It looks pretty 
good to me, too. Let’s see what we have 
for a winter home.” 

Every one hurried to get out of the car, 
with Rusty the first to bound up the steps. 
On the piazza he stood on his hind legs to 


66 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


look through the window. Betty was be¬ 
side him in a moment. 

“ There’s a fireplace,” she cried. 
“ Goody! Goody!” 

“ That’s comforting,” laughed her 
father, from whom the perspiration was 
pouring, for it was a very warm after¬ 
noon. “We ought to build a roaring fire 
at once to keep off the chill.” 

He unlocked the door and Betty and 
Rusty went racing through the roomy 
cottage on a tour of inspection. The big 
living-room with its fireplace, the enclosed 
sleeping-porch with its dozen half-win¬ 
dows which could he opened, the tiny in¬ 
side dining-room, the kitchen and the big 
porch at the rear, where they would eat 
most of their meals, all brought exclama¬ 
tions of delight from Betty and barks of 
hearty approval from Rusty. They had 
reached their destination and found it 
good. 

“ Now,” said Mr. Abbott, “ either shut 


RUSTY MAKES A FRIEND 


67 


that dog up or tie him, for I have the car 
to unload and I cannot do it successfully, 

V 7 

to say nothing of safely, with that dog 
between my legs. As an interferer, he is 
superior to any on the All-America foot¬ 
ball team, and his tackles when he gets 
between my legs are sure to bring me 
down.” 

Betty found the leash. Rusty, offended, 
was tied securely to the leg of the center- 
table. He considered such treatment to 
be cruelty to animals and whimpered 
about it. He felt so badly that Mrs. Ab¬ 
bott stopped to fondle him and tell him 
that he would be obliged to suffer the in¬ 
dignity for only a few minutes. 

Every time that Mr. Abbott entered 
with grips and bundles, Rusty turned his 
head and looked elsewhere. He intended 
that his master should know that he was 
aware of who was responsible for such 
treatment of a thoroughly nice dog. 

It was late in the afternoon and Mrs. 


68 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


Abbott, having investigated the supplies 
that had been arranged for by mail, called 
that all she needed was milk. She sug¬ 
gested that Mr. Abbott take the car and 
Betty and Rusty, and go to the city and 
buy some. Mr. Abbott groaned and 
grumbled but dutifully arose from a big 
chair into which he had dropped, when a 
step was heard on the piazza. The door¬ 
bell rang. Rusty, forgetting that he was 
tied, sprang as usual to receive the caller. 

Crash! A perfectly good vase was 
worthless. Gay flowers that had been in 
it to welcome the newcomers floated across 
the floor. 

Confusion reigned for a moment. Betty 
rushed and untied her pet. Free at last, 
Rusty dashed to the door and waited for 
it to be opened, recalling to the others 
the visitor awaiting a response. 

Betty opened the door. Rusty’s tail, 
after one look, wagged vigorously. Here 
was a new friend! 


RUSTY MAKES A FRIEND 69 

Their caller, bareheaded, had under one 
arm a pan containing ice, and in the other 
hand a bottle of milk. 

He introduced himself as Mr. Travers, 
son of the owner of the grove, explaining 
that he lived during the winter in an 
apartment at the garage and, knowing 
that they would need ice and milk, he had 
obtained them in the morning and ar¬ 
ranged for future deliveries. 

Mr. Abbott relieved him of the com¬ 
modities, and explained that his thought¬ 
fulness had saved a tired man from driv¬ 
ing back to the city to obtain the milk. 

Mr. Travers declined an invitation to 
visit, merely asking if he could be of any 
assistance. While he was talking, his eyes 
were constantly on Rusty. 

Introductions being over, he stooped 
and said to Rusty, “ How do you do, lit¬ 
tle fellow.” 

Rusty gave a joyous “ Woof,” because 
here was a man after his own heart. He 


70 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


wiggled all over until, suddenly remem¬ 
bering his manners, he sat up and offered 
his paw. 

Mr. Travers gravely shook hands, 
pulled one of the long, silky ears and 
stepped back to admire him. “ I hope I’ll 
see a lot of him,” he said. “ I love dogs.” 

“ Yip,” said Rusty. 

“ You’ll probably see all you want of 
him,” Mr. Abbott laughed. “ He’s the 
greatest nuisance in the wide world if you 
are doing anything. And I warn you that 
you can’t have a secret from him.” 

“ I shouldn’t want one,” said Mr. 
Travers simply. He said good-night and 
turned back to his apartment. 

Rusty, his tail wagging, stood and 
watched him from the piazza until he dis¬ 
appeared inside his rooms. He knew he 
had a friend upon whom he could count. 
Dogs are like that. Immediately he de¬ 
cided that it was time to look over the 
outside of the property. 


CHAPTER IV 


RUSTY GATHERS EGGS 

Rusty followed a few steps toward the 
garage before he stopped to think things 
over. He was hungry, and he had not 
seen what the back of the house looked 
like. That was most important. He 
turned and trotted toward the rear in the 
gathering dusk. He didn’t know then 
that in the South when the evening 
shadows fall, they shut down very quickly. 

Through the open windows he could 
hear the excited talking in the cottage. 
Knowing that his family was near, he 
ambled along to a pile of loose boards and 
odds and ends of wood. Something might 
be under them. He sniffed, jumped back 
and, puzzled, stood still. A strange scent 
came to him! 

Very cautiously he crept forward a 

71 


72 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


step, two steps, his sensitive nose inform¬ 
ing him that something was in there with 
which he was not familiar. Curiosity was 
strong, but cautiousness was stronger. 
He backed away and barked threaten¬ 
ingly. Nothing happened. Advancing 
once more he barked defiantly, challeng¬ 
ing whatever was under those boards to 
come out and be looked over. 

Instead of an answer to his challenge 
coming from under the wood, there was 
Betty’s call from the back porch. 

“Rusty. Rusty! Where are you? 
Come here this minute. How did you get 
out, and what have you found? ” Betty 
had forgotten that Rusty had been on the 
front piazza when Mr. Travers left! 

He heard the slam of the screen door 
of the back porch as Betty came to find 
him. Rusty hesitated. He usually obeyed 
her call promptly. But here under the 
wood was something new and strange. 
He barked again to guide her, for dark- 


RUSTY GATHERS EGGS 73 

ness had fallen and every one was excited 
that evening. Betty stooped down beside 
him, and Rusty excitedly told her that 
something was under there that they 
ought to investigate. 

Just then Betty’s father called her to 
bring in the dog. “ Mother has a good 
supper all ready,” he said, “ and you 
must get to bed early to-night. We are 
all tired and need the rest.” 

Without wasting any time on Rusty’s 
discovery, Betty picked him up and stum¬ 
bled her way to the back door, thinking 
as she went that she could not recall ever 
having eaten a meal her mother had 
cooked. Mandy had always been the 
cook, as far back as Betty could re¬ 
member. 

The table was spread on the back 
porch, and to Betty’s astonishment scram¬ 
bled eggs just as light and fluffy as any 
Mandy made and some biscuits that she 
couldn’t have told from Mandy’s were 


74 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


already on the table, and her mother was 
flying about with a smile on her face, 
putting the finishing touches to the first 
meal in their winter home. 

“ I didn’t know you could cook like 
that! ” Betty exclaimed, her astonishment 
at her mother’s ability plainly evident in 
her tone. 

Her father, coming just then from the 
pump in the back yard with two brim¬ 
ming pails of water, seemed to find much 
amusement in his daughter’s remark. But 
he said nothing. 

“ I have cooked, Betty,” her mother 
replied. “ I rather enjoy it, but your 
father prefers Mandy’s efforts.” 

“ This is a vacation,” Mr. Abbott re¬ 
marked, “ and cooking is no vacation. 
We’ll go into the city to-morrow and see 
whether there isn’t somebody like Mandy 
who will take over the cooking.” 

A very tired and very sleepy girl drank 
a glass of milk and ate sparingly of the 


RUSTY GATHERS EGGS 


75 


delicious meal her mother had prepared. 
Rusty was obliged to remind his little 
mistress several times that he was being 
shamefully neglected in the matter of 
food. 

Apparently forgetting his excitement 
over what was in the wood in the vard, 
Rusty was willing enough to follow Betty 
to bed, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Abbott to 
finish unpacking in peace, considerably to 
their surprise. 

“The next time we go anywhere,” said 
Mr. Abbott when he stretched out at last 
in a comfortable chair, “ we’ll get that dog 
so tired that he goes off to sleep. We 
have had a peaceful time getting things 
straightened out to-night.” 

Betty was aroused early the next morn¬ 
ing by Rusty’s efforts to reach the half¬ 
windows over their bed. A mocking bird, 
bent on showing off his accomplishments 
for the benefit of the newcomers, was 
“ singing his head off,” as Mr. Abbott 


76 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


phrased it, in the pecan tree in front of 
the cottage. 

Betty and Rusty scrambled out of bed, 
and after Betty had very hastily dressed 
they went out on the piazza to see the 
songster. It was very early, and Mr. Ab¬ 
bott groaned at the thought of arising at 
such an hour while on a vacation. A mist 
was lifting from the lake, holding Betty 
entranced with the changing scene. 

So intent was she on watching the far 
shore gradually come into view from be¬ 
hind its filmy curtain that it was several 
minutes before she missed her pet. She 
called. No answer! Then she thought of 
the pile of wood. She ran around the 
house. 

There she found Rusty intently watch¬ 
ing a large white hen, half hidden under 
some boards. 

Rusty’s experiences had never covered 
close association with hens. He was not 
certain what might happen if he pushed 


RUSTY GATHERS EGGS 


77 


his nose too close, so he was lying, nose on 
paws, awaiting developments. 

Exclaiming over the discovery, Betty 
ran into the cottage to report what they 
had found the first thing in the morning. 

“ I knew we were to have all the grape¬ 
fruit and oranges we wanted,” Mr. Ab¬ 
bott solemnly assured his daughter, “ but 
this is the first I had heard that we were 
to have hens provide us with fresh eggs. 
I strongly suspect that Mrs. Biddy is lay¬ 
ing an egg, and she should be undisturbed 
until that interesting function has been 
completed. I would call Rusty away, be¬ 
cause otherwise he will miss his breakfast. 
We must get that meal over, for we are to 
go to the city and find some successor to 
Mandy.” 

So Betty ran out again and, with much 
coaxing, persuaded Rusty to follow her 
into the house. Rusty was very reluctant 
to leave, for, during Betty’s absence, he 
had discovered that when he moved an 


78 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


inch closer and whined the hen ruffled her 
feathers and showed a disposition to give 
him some fun. 

While Mrs. Abbott was preparing 
breakfast, Mr. Abbott, having brought in 
fresh water and shaved, went with Betty 
and Rusty to see what they had found. 
The hen was still there and showed plainly 
that she did not appreciate such a large 
audience, and one spectator in particular 
that insisted on getting too close to her. 

“ When I get time,” said Mr. Abbott, 
“ I’ll find where the hen comes from. She 
has stolen her nest, and some one of the 
neighbors is missing eggs every day. You 
ask Mr. Travers, Betty. He will know 
who among the neighbors keeps hens.” 

Betty enjoyed her breakfast more than 
she had her supper, there being no need 
to urge her to eat, or Rusty, either, as 
there had been that morning a little more 
than a week before when they had started 
on their journey South. 


RUSTY GATHERS EGGS 


79 


It was after breakfast when Rusty, 
making a closer inspection of the house 
than he had taken time to do the evening 
before, discovered that the back porch 
door was not latched. Mr. Abbott, enter¬ 
ing with the pails of water, had not been 
careful. Rusty, having made his discov¬ 
ery, charged the door as he did the one 
into the butler’s pantry at home, and was 
out in the yard. 

His absence was not discovered for 
some little time. Every one else was busy. 
Just as Mrs. Abbott had called to Betty 
that they were going to the city, they were 
startled by an exclamation from Mr. Ab¬ 
bott at the front door. They hurried to 
see what could have happened. 

He was looking with mixed emotions at 
his feet. Rusty at some little distance 
from him was slowly wagging his tail as 
he looked from one to the other of his 
family, awaiting their approval. 

“ Will you look at this mess! ” Mr. Ab- 


80 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


bott exclaimed in disgust. He pointed to 
the piazza floor and held up one foot 
dripping with the yolk of an egg. “ That 
dog has robbed a hen’s nest. Look at 
them! ” He pointed to the piazza floor. 

A moment of complete silence followed 
before Rusty’s whole body wiggled and 
his mouth opened, as if to join in the hila¬ 
rious laughter of his big mistress. Long 
before then he had given up wondering 
why she laughed at something he had 
done which did not seem to him to have 
been funny. But he knew that when she 
did laugh, everything was all right. 

When she could control her emotions 
she pointed and began to count: “ One, 
two, three, four, five, six—why, Arthur, 
there are, or were, I should say, nine eggs 
here! ” 

Were ’ is correct,” he replied with 
disgust. “ I opened this door and, not 
expecting to find a sitting of eggs just 
outside, I kicked one. Trying to recover 



RUSTY GATHERS EGGS 


81 


myself I stepped on another. It’s lucky 
I didn’t lose my balance and fall. That 
would have been a mess! ” 

“ But where’s the hen? ” Betty cried, 
pushing through the door and stepping 
carefully in order not to get into the fresh 
yolks. “ He can’t have killed the hen! ” 
She ran around the corner. 

“ What I want to know is how he got 
out,” said Mr. Abbott. “ We must find 
that out at once, or something may hap¬ 
pen to him. He’s altogether too inquisi¬ 
tive, and this is strange territory to him. 
This door was latched, the back door was 
shut, and all the windows have wire 
screens in them.” 

Mrs. Abbott agreed that Rusty’s secret 
must be learned, but it was some time be¬ 
fore they were permitted to share it with 
him. 

Betty came racing around the house to 
announce that the hen was gone, and that 
there was nothing in the nest. 


82 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


Mr. Abbott, who was carefully picking 
up the undamaged eggs, with Rusty hov¬ 
ering close at hand, anxious for a pat of 
approval for having thus supplied the 
family larder, laughed. 

“ I told you before breakfast that some 
neighbor’s hen had stolen her nest, and 
that we must find the owner because the 
eggs do not belong to us. Now I suppose 
we ought to pay for these two that I 
broke. Or make Rusty pay for them,” he 
added, frowning at the spaniel. 

The tail instantly stopped wagging. 
Rusty looked away, then back quickly, 
trying to catch a change of expression on 
his master’s face. Seeing no hope there, 
he walked, head and tail down, to the far 
corner of the piazza and sat down, leaning 
hard against the corner post, the picture 
of complete dejection. 

Betty ran to him, promising that he 
should not be obliged to pay for the eggs, 
and telling him that it was wonderful how 


RUSTY GATHERS EGGS 


83 


he had picked them up and carried them 
to the house and put them down without 
even cracking one. 

“ You didn’t break them,” said Betty. 
<£ You found them and brought them out 
where others could see them.” 

“ That’s true enough,” her father said 
with a laugh. “ But he ought to have put 
up a red light to stop traffic. I suppose 
I shall be obliged to forgive him, but I 
have a good notion to make him clean my 
shoes.” 

Betty said that raw eggs were not good 
for little dogs, and after some argument 
it was agreed that Betty and Rusty 
should find Mr. Travers and learn from 
him where the hen and the eggs belonged. 

They ran for the garage. Mr. Travers 
must have been watching for them for he 
opened the door before they reached it 
and came out to meet them. Betty told 
of how Rusty had found the hen and of 
his carrying them to the house. “You 


84 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


see,” she explained solemnly, “ he did that 
once with all the rubbers and overshoes in 
the neighborhood up home, but I don’t 
believe he will do it again.” 

“Yip,” said Rusty. 

“ That means he agrees with me,” said 
Betty. “He understands almost every¬ 
thing we say.” 

“ That is very evident,” Mr. Travers 
admitted, with an understanding smile. 

When Betty told of Rusty’s barking at 
another place in the woodpile the evening 
before, Mr. Travers thought for a moment 
before replying. “ It couldn’t have been 
the hen,” he said. “ Probably there is a 
snake under there, but it is a harmless 
one. However, we shall have to get rid 
of that pile of wood.” 

The hen, Mr. Travers said, undoubt¬ 
edly belonged to Mr. Webster, and he 
suggested that they take the eggs to him. 
Betty ran to the house to get the eggs but 
Rusty, after following part way, stopped 


RUSTY GATHERS EGGS 


85 


to see what Mr. Travers was going to do. 
It was a question with Rusty which of 
them would provide him with the more 
excitement. When he found his new 
friend following, he was satisfied to race 
after Betty. 

No sooner had they stepped through an 
opening in the fence between the two 
properties than terrific barking in high- 
pitched tones greeted them from a dis¬ 
tance. Betty and Rusty stopped, not 
knowing what to expect. 

“ That’s Maggie and Flossie, Mr. 
Webster’s pug dogs,” Mr. Travers ex¬ 
plained. “ They make a lot of disagree¬ 
able noise, but they are harmless.” 

“ Pug dogs! ” Betty exclaimed with a 
puzzled air. “ I never heard of such ani¬ 
mals.” 

“ Probably not,” Mr. Travers agreed, 
“ but your father and mother will both 
remember them, for they were very pop¬ 
ular years ago. You do not see them very 


86 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


often now. These two are mother and 
daughter, and they are very snippy. They 
do not care to associate with everybody.” 

Rusty was forming his own opinion 
without any aid from Mr. Travers. It 
was not a very high opinion, either. He 
marched along, occasionally growling as 
if to himself, but not barking in reply to 
the others. He was trying to decide what 
sort of dogs were making such a racket. 

The two pugs, the daughter behind the 
mother, advanced a few steps from their 
kennel as the others neared the house. 
Rusty, fearing they intended harm to his 
little mistress, rushed at them with a 
sharp bark of warning that told them 
plainly he would not stand any nonsense 
from them. Both pugs whirled around, 
their tails tightly curled over their backs, 
and dived into their home. Once safely 
in their shelter, they resumed their furious 
barking. 

Rusty, curious now, walked slowly to 


RUSTY GATHERS EGGS 


87 


within a few feet of the entrance of the 
kennel, but almost turned a back somer¬ 
sault in his surprise when Maggie, fearing 
he meant harm to her daughter, rushed 
out of the door with all her teeth on dis¬ 
play. 

But once over his surprise, he stood his 
ground, his heavier bark answering that 
of the indignant Maggie. Mr. Travers 
laughed heartily at Rusty’s surprise, and 
even Betty, frightened a little at first, 
managed to smile. 

While this battle of barks was in 
progress, Mrs. Webster had appeared to 
learn what all the racket was about. 
Betty and Rusty were introduced, and 
Mrs. Webster was much amused at the 
story Betty told of the eggs, and said she 
must borrow Rusty to collect her eggs for 
her. 

She chatted with Betty for some min- 

\ 

utes and told her to tell her mother that 
she would call as soon as they were set- 


88 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


tied, and that later they would go bird¬ 
hunting. 

Betty doubted whether her mother 
would wish to do such a thing, until Mrs. 
Webster explained that she meant hunt¬ 
ing them with bird glasses to see what 



THEY WOULD TURN TAIL AND RUN 


they did. Then Betty was sure that they 
all would like to go. 

As they said good-bye and started back, 
Maggie and Flossie came out of their re¬ 
treat and started a rear-guard action with 
Rusty. Every few yards, Rusty would 





RUSTY GATHERS EGGS 


89 


turn around and run a few steps back 
toward the pugs, at which they would turn 
tail and run. This process was repeated 
time and again all the way to the fence, 
and even after they were back on the 
property of Mr. Travers. 

“ I should think they would wear out 
their voices,” said Betty. “ They are very 
tiresome, and nobody wants to be friends 
with them.” 

“ I agree with you about their voices,” 
Mr. Travers said, “ but before long you 
will find that Rusty has become friendly 
with them.” 

Betty expressed her doubts whether 
even Rusty could bring himself to associ¬ 
ate with such as they, but time was to 
prove that she was wrong, at least so far 
as one of them was concerned. 


CHAPTER V 


RUSTY FINDS BUNNY 

As they came within sight of the garage 
they saw that Mr. Abbott had backed the 
car out. Rusty, busy as he had been for 
two hours, and with much more investi¬ 
gating to do, had no intention of missing 
a ride. He dashed for the car, barking 
joyously. 

“ Want to go, Betty? ” her father 
asked. “ Either you must come with me 
and hold this dog, or take him into the 
house.” 

It is just a waste of words and good 
paper to write that Rusty went for a ride 
that morning. Mr. Abbott drove to sev¬ 
eral places in the city before he made ar¬ 
rangements with a woman to do the 
cooking for the Abbotts. Rusty was 

90 


RUSTY FINDS BUNNY 91 

greatly excited at each stop, for it seemed 
to him that he saw Mandy several times, 
but only one of Rusty’s Mandys paid any 
attention to him. It may seem strange, 
but she was the one engaged by Mr. 
Abbott. 

“ I presume she is the poorest cook in 
the lot,” he grumbled, “ but she liked 
Rusty. It has got so that no one can do 
anything without asking that black imp if 
it suits him.” 

“ Yip,” said Rusty. 

Charged by Mrs. Abbott with a num¬ 
ber of errands, Mr. Abbott encountered 
the same friendly policeman who had di¬ 
rected them the afternoon before, and 
again stopped to ask directions. While 
the officer was giving information, he was 
petting Rusty. Nobody thought then 
how important to the entire Abbott fam¬ 
ily the officer’s liking for Rusty was to 
prove. 

They tried a new route home, and when 


92 RUSTY’S TRAVELS 

they reached their lake, as they already 
called it, they came to a little pavilion 
built out over the water, on which a 
big man wearing a tremendous broad- 
brimmed hat was seated watching several 
lines that he had put out. Mr. Abbott 
stopped the car. 

“ Let’s go and see what they catch for 
fish in this lake of ours,” he suggested. 
Betty and Rusty promptly tumbled out 
of the car. 

The fisherman proved to be an elderly 
man who said in his delightful Southern 
drawl that he was from northern Texas 
and had come to Lakeland to visit a 
daughter. He said he fished to help kill 
time, because he missed having many 
things to look after, as he had at home. 

Rusty, remembering the fishing he had 
done with Mr. Abbott’s brother at camp, 
knew what the lines in the water meant. 
He walked from one end of the platform 
to the other, stopping at each line to look 


RUSTY FINDS BUNNY 


93 


intently at the water, where the bob 
floated serenely, for not a breath of air 
stirred the surface of the lake. 

Betty, perched on the railing, was 
watching some girls in a canoe when 
Rusty barked sharply, attracting the at¬ 
tention of all of them. One of the bobs 
was bobbing up and down rapidly. 

“ Reckon I’ll have that dog do my 
fishin’ for me,” said the Texan as he 
picked up the line. In another moment, 
a catfish weighing two pounds or more 
was flopping on the floor of the pavilion. 
Rusty, having learned a lesson at camp 
from a flopping fish, did not go near it, 
and watched it only a moment before re¬ 
turning to his patrol along the edge of the 
pavilion, for the fisherman had nine lines 
in the water, and Rusty knew they needed 
watching. 

Rusty was reluctant to leave when, 
after a few minutes of explaining to Betty 
that what she knew at camp as a bullhead 


94 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


or horned pout is known in the South as 
a catfish, ending with a promise to the 
Texan to return some time and fish with 
him, Mr. Abbott started for home. Usu¬ 
ally interested in where they were going, 
Rusty this time hung out of the window, 
looking back at the fisherman. He de¬ 
cided right then and there that he would 
go fishing again. But he said nothing 
about it, so Betty and her father were in 
ignorance of his intention. 

Seeing Mr. Travers at the woodpile 
which had so interested Rusty the night 
before, and where he had found the hen 
and the eggs that morning, the little 
spaniel dashed to join him as soon as he 
could escape from the car. Something 
was under that wood that Rusty wanted 
to know about. 

He ran to the exact place at which he 
had caught the strange scent. Mr. Trav¬ 
ers, who was removing boards at the 
other end of the pile, immediately went 


RUSTY FINDS BUNNY 


95 


around to him and bent down beside the 
little dog. 

“ So this is where you found something, 
eh,” he said. “ I guess you had a black 
snake in there. He’s harmless, but he 
might frighten Betty, and we had better 
get rid of him.” 

Rusty was too busy to pay attention to 
what was being said, and for the next 
hour he was still busier. He worked hard, 
tugging at the boards with Mr. Travers, 
growling and worrying each one as Mr. 
Travers piled them to one side in a neat 
arrangement. They had been in a dis¬ 
orderly heap where they had been thrown 
by workmen who had done some repair 
work on the cottage before the Abbotts 
arrived. 

But after the very last board had been 
moved, there was no sign of anything 
alive except some bugs and grubs that al¬ 
ways are to be found in such a place. In 
vain Rusty sniffed and snuffed every- 


96 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


where before looking up with a much-puz- 
zled air at Mr. Travers. 

“ Oh, I believe you, all right, Rusty,” 
he said with a laugh. “ Something was 
under there all right last evening, and I 
still think it was a snake. He probably 
came out this morning, hunting for some¬ 
thing to eat, and along late this afternoon 
when he hikes for home we may see him.” 

That ended Mr. Travers’s search for 
whatever it had been that had excited 
Rusty’s curiosity. On the other side of 
the pile where Mrs. Webster’s hen had 
been hiding her nest there was no longer 
a secret place. Mr. Travers told Rusty 
that the hen would be obliged to find a 
new nest. Rusty didn’t understand then 
that his new friend had spoiled his first 
hunting-ground. He went over every 
foot of it again and again, his nose telling 
him plainly that something he didn’t 
know and was sure he wouldn’t like had 
been there. 


RUSTY FINDS BUNNY 


97 


Mr. Travers had gone to his rooms, 
leaving Rusty to his nosing around, when 
Betty called to him from the back porch 
to come to dinner. The sun was shining 
brightly on the back of the house as 
Rusty, a little tired from his exertions, 
trotted around to ask to be let in at the 
back screen door. 

Still puzzled over the scent he had 
caught under the woodpile, he suddenly 
came upon it stronger than ever. He 
stopped to look around and to try the air 
with his nose. It came strongest from the 
direction of the steps, so he advanced 
slowly and cautiously until suddenly he 
caught sight of it. 

Bracing himself he barked furiously as 
a long black snake that had been sunning 
itself on one of the steps slid off and dis¬ 
appeared under the house. Rusty’s furi¬ 
ous barking attracted all the family to the 
back porch, but there was nothing for 
them to see. Cautiously, Rusty moved 


98 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


toward the steps, then tried to see behind 
them. What he couldn’t see, his nose 
could smell, and he tried hard to tell the 
family that he had really discovered this 
time something alive that he didn’t like. 

Mr. Abbott came out and looked but, 
seeing nothing, picked up Rusty and car¬ 
ried him inside, where he stood at the back 
door and barked until told to keep quiet. 
After that, he growled deep down in his 
throat and looked an appeal to Mr. Ab¬ 
bott to believe that he had really seen 
something disturbing. 

That afternoon when all were getting 
into the car for a ride, Betty told Mr. 
Travers what Rusty had done and ex¬ 
plained that they had been unable to find 
anything. Mr. Travers promised to see 
what he could do while they were absent. 

It was dusk when they returned and 
Mr. Abbott drove beyond the garage up 
to the door of the cottage, his headlights 
shining, when he stopped, directly on some 


RUSTY FINDS BUNNY 


99 


vines that clung to the fence dividing the 
Travers and Webster properties. 

Rusty’s keen eyes saw it first! He 
whined as he struggled with all his 
strength to escape from Betty’s arms. A 
little brown rabbit was crouched under 
the vines directly in the glare of the head¬ 
lights. 

It was new game to Rusty. He did so 
want to see whether the animal would run 
and, if it would, whether he could catch 
it. But Betty kept tight hold of him. 

44 It’s dark now and he might chase off 
some distance and get lost,” her father 
said. “ That rabbit probably lives around 
here, and we shall see him in the daylight. 
Then Rusty can have his chase after him. 
He couldn’t catch him, and if he did, he 
wouldn’t harm the animal.” 

So Rusty was forced to postpone his 
fun until the next morning when he was 
returning with Betty from the gate, where 
they had been to get the milk that was left 


100 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


for them very early, and to see if the rural 
carrier had left any letters. 

Rusty was carrying the morning paper 
carefully in his mouth, trotting along 
ahead of Betty, who, carrying the bottle 
of milk, was trying at the same time to 
open and read a letter from Jennie. 

Under such circumstances it was not 
surprising that Betty did not understand 
why Rusty had suddenly dropped the pa¬ 
per—something he never did at home— 
and with a joyous “ Yip, yip! ”, his long 
ears flopping, was running as if his very 
life depended on his speed straight back 
through the grove. 

She called sharply. Rusty was getting 
so that he didn’t obey her, she decided, as 
she cried shrilly, “ Rusty. Rusty! Come 
back here.” 

But Rusty paid no attention. Ahead 
of him, bobbing up and down, was a little 
brown rabbit that Rusty could see was 
running faster than he was. He strained 



RUSTY FINDS BUNNY 


101 


every muscle in his effort to keep the fly¬ 
ing form ahead of him in sight. When 
he reached the top of a slight rise in the 
ground, he could no longer see the object 




HE STRAINED EVERY MUSCLE 


'of his chase, and was forced to depend on 
his nose. 

Paying not the slightest attention to 
Betty’s frantic calls, he raced along with 
his nose to the ground until he came to a 
brush heap. The trail ended there! He 


102 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


circled around the pile, but only where he 
had followed the trail was there fresh 
scent. His quarry was in that heap! 

He barked at it, but nothing happened. 
He scratched a few times at the ends of 
the twigs that stuck out, but that did no 
good. After a moment’s thought, he de¬ 
cided that he would heed Betty’s call and 
get some breakfast. He could do his 
hunting later. 

Betty was angry—very angry. He 
trotted up to her, his tail telling her that 
she could see he was coming just as soon 
as he heard her call. But Betty didn’t be¬ 
lieve that message. Grabbing him by the 
collar she sat down on the sand and 
scolded and scolded, promising to tie him 
in the house all day the next time he ran 
away instead of obeying her call, as he 
always did at home. 

Rusty listened with a bored expression, 
because he could not get away, but his 
mind was on some very interesting smells 



RUSTY FINDS BUNNY 


103 


wafted from the house. He was very 
hungry. The lecture over, he bounded 
away and at the back door asked to be 
admitted. There he caught that strange 
scent again, and went to the end of the 
steps where he had seen the snake dis¬ 
appear. 

The scent was not nearly so strong as 
it had been before, certainly not so strong 
as the delicious odors that came to him 
from the kitchen, so he instantly obeyed 
Betty’s impatient summons: “ Come in 
here, you naughty dog.” He dashed for 
Betty’s seat, impatiently awaiting the ap¬ 
pearance of the rest of the family at table. 
Everything was different, he reflected, 
from what it was in their other home. 
There he never left his bed until after 
Betty did. And Betty never by any 
chance got up until the very last minute 
that would give her time to eat breakfast 
and start for school on time. But in this 
new home, both of them were up and out 


104 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


before breakfast, which certainly gave a 
small dog a tremendous appetite. But his 
big mistress was very, very slow in pre¬ 
paring his meals. After he had had his 
few bites with Betty, he was obliged to 
wait until Mrs. Abbott had finished her 
meal, and then wait still longer while she 
got his plate ready. 

It was not until he had finished his first 
breakfast with Betty and had got down 
from his chair to beg Mrs. Abbott to 
please hurry and get a real meal for a 
hungry dog that he discovered Eliza in 
the kitchen. He heard some one move, 
and trotted to investigate. 

Every one laughed at his joyful barks 
when he discovered a big colored woman, 
dressed almost exactly as Mandy dressed. 
He leaped up on her when she laughed 
and gurgled at him in the same language 
Mandy used to him. And there on the 
floor under the sink was his plate with 
his breakfast ready for him. Things were 


RUSTY FINDS BUNNY 


105 


being better managed, he decided, than 
they had been the evening before. 

Not long after they had finished break¬ 
fast they all got into the automobile and 
once more drove to the city, where ar¬ 
rangements were made for Betty to go to 
school for the length of their stay in Lake¬ 
land. The school building was large and 
new, but Rusty was not allowed to meet 
the teacher or to see what the inside of the 
building looked like for, while Mrs. Ab¬ 
bott and Betty were making the arrange¬ 
ments, he was forced to remain in the car 
with his master. 

After some errands had been com¬ 
pleted, they drove home over the route 
they had taken the day before. Mr. Ab¬ 
bott called Mrs. Abbott’s attention to the 
Texan leaning against the railing of the 
pavilion watching his lines. Rusty re¬ 
membered, and plainly showed that he was 
disappointed that they were not to stop. 
He was very quiet the remainder of the 


106 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


way home, trying to decide whether to go 
fishing or to give his attention to that pile 
of brush in the grove into which he had 
chased that strange animal before break¬ 
fast. 

When they drove up to the front door, 
there on the other side of the fence were 
Maggie and Flossie, scolding in their 
high-pitched voices and ready to turn and 
run at the slightest sign of approach 
toward them. 

Mr. and Mrs. Abbott both exclaimed at 
the sight of the pugs, for neither had seen 
one of that breed in many years. Rusty 
tumbled out with Betty and trotted to the 
fence, which was a signal for the pugs to 
retreat toward the safety of their kennel. 
Rusty could not get through the wire 
fence at that point, so contented himself 
with watching the two dogs. 

Flossie seemed to show a disposition to 
make his closer acquaintance and came a 
few steps nearer, when Rusty lay down, 


RUSTY FINDS BUNNY 


107 


ears cocked with curiosity, and waited to 
see what would happen. Maggie, how¬ 
ever, would have nothing to do with him 
at close range, and called her daughter 
away from the interloper. 

Leaving Rusty still watching the pugs, 
the Abbotts entered the cottage, Mr. Ab¬ 
bott with his arms filled with bundles. 
The two pugs, with parting barks, gradu¬ 
ally backed away, leaving Rusty with 
nothing interesting to do. 

Just then a scent he had caught re¬ 
minded him of the little brown rabbit, and 
he trotted around to the brush heap to re¬ 
sume his investigations and try to get an¬ 
other chase out of the rabbit. 

Mr. Travers, coming up just then from 
the far end of the orchard where he had 
been working, was attracted by the growls 
and barks of the little spaniel. He called 
to him. 

Rusty, remembering how his new friend 
had moved a woodpile to help him uncover 


108 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


a scent, rushed to him and then back to 
the brush heap. Mr. Travers laughed and 
followed him. 

“ I suppose you’ve got one of those lit¬ 
tle rabbits in there,” he said, “ but if you 
think I am going to move that pile of 
brush for you the way I did that pile of 
wood, you are very much mistaken.” 

Rusty knew from the tone of his voice 
that he was to get no help this time. He 
rushed at the place into which the rabbit 
had disappeared and tried to dig away the 
sticks, whining with impatience. 

“ Dig all you want to,” said Mr. Trav¬ 
ers, “ but don’t look to me for help. If 
I turned that all over, the rabbit would 
get away from you and he would be back 
in the pile to-night. I wonder if you 
know that while you-all were away I 
killed that snake you found. I guess we 
had better not say anything about it, you 
and I, and then the women folks will not 
be frightened.” 


RUSTY FINDS BUNNY 


109 


Rusty said “ Woof,” which Mr. Trav¬ 
ers took as agreeing with him. The dog 
watched Mr. Travers move away and, 
after a few more quick digs at the pile, he 
turned and ran after him. He might have 
something interesting to do, Rusty 
thought, and so far the day had been very 
dull, with just an automobile ride and a 
rabbit chase. He stopped a moment to 
investigate the repiled wood, but no white 
hen was in sight, nor were there any eggs, 
and the other scent no longer attracted 
him. 

He hurried to overtake this man who 
understood little dogs, and who didn’t 
scold nor make him sit in the car while 
others went into buildings. 


CHAPTER VI 


rusty’s blue day 

His family were getting to be regular 
scolds and faultfinders, Rusty decided, 
as he trotted after Mr. Travers. At 
home, where he had matters regulated to 
his own satisfaction, everything went 
along smoothly. Even up at camp, he 
had little difficulty in doing what he 
pleased, but down here where everything 
was new, and strange animals and new 
scents were everywhere; where a big good- 
natured man fished and needed his help, 
some one was always calling to him and 
preventing him from doing what he 
planned to do. He was decidedly dis¬ 
satisfied with the way things were going 
in this new home of his. 

Nothing he did suited any one but Mr. 

110 


RUSTY’S BLUE DAY 


111 


Travers. He was a man who understood 
dogs exactly, as his family at home did 
once. By going along with him for a visit, 
he would make Betty sorry for having 
treated him like any ordinary dog instead 
of like the head of the family. She would 
hunt for him and call and call, and then, 
when he finally returned, she would be so 
glad that he would be able to forget the 
disagreeable things of the life in this new 
place. 

With his plans all worked out satisfac¬ 
torily, he was surprised to have Mr. Trav¬ 
ers turn and tell him that he must go 
back to his home. 

“ Y r ou are doing too much running 
around in a strange place,” he said. 
“ First thing you know, you’ll be lost, and 
then Betty will be heartbroken and you’ll 
be hungry and friendless. I’ll be glad to 
have you with me any time, but not unless 
your folks know where you are.” 

All Rusty understood of that long 


112 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


speech was that he was not wanted by this 
new friend. This man, whom he had re¬ 
garded as a chum now that his family had 
turned against him, was ordering him to 
go home. He couldn’t understand it. 
He did so much wish to see where he lived, 
and whether he kept anything to eat that 
little dogs liked. At the home of Jennie 
and Pauline there was always a bite of 
something especially good. In fact, now 
that he stopped to think about it, only in 
his own home was he refused something 
to eat between meals. He sat down to 
consider whether he would obey this last 
order. He was getting very tired of do¬ 
ing everything he was ordered to do by 
everybody. 

Mr. Travers regarded him thoughtfully 
a moment before retracing his steps 
toward the front door of the Abbott cot¬ 
tage. Rusty merely turned his head clear 
around to make sure that he was not go¬ 
ing to the brush pile. It was not yet 


RUSTY’S BLUE DAY 


113 


dinner time and there would be nothing to 
do in the house. Any man who had made 
friends with a dog ought to know that the 
dog wanted to see where he lived, and 
especially to learn whether he kept cookies 
or crackers in a tin box on the pantry 
shelf. 

Mr. Travers did not look back, but 
walked straight to the front door and rang 
the bell. It was really very hard sitting 
with his head twisted almost off, so Rusty 
jumped up and raced after him. Perhaps 
Mr. Travers could be persuaded to go to 
that brush pile in the grove and stir out 
that rabbit for him! Rusty didn’t know 
the name of the animal, but he knew it 
would run, and he was quite sure that he 
could catch it the next time. 

As Mr. Travers was admitted to the 
house, Rusty dashed in. Just on the 
chance that the person who looked like 
Mandy and acted like her had not received 
instructions about feeding him between 


114 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


meals, Rusty, after giving every one in 
the big room an opportunity to speak to 
him, trotted into the kitchen. Not a sin¬ 
gle member of the family had paid the 
slightest attention to him. 

But Eliza spoke to him just as Mandy 
always did. She wanted to know where 
he had been. She admired him when he 
sat up and begged, exclaimed when he 
sneezed, and laughed heartily when he 
prayed, but that was all. Not a single 
morsel of food did she give him. Rusty 
promptly decided that it was the one day 
in his career when the world was entirely 
and completely against him. Without a 
moment’s further waste of time he 
charged the screen door, only to get his 
nose scratched by the wire. For the first 
time in his experience the door was se¬ 
curely latched. Even the door was against 
him. 

“ You better go an’ ask de folks to let 
you out,” Eliza told him. “ I’ze got my 


RUSTY’S BLUE DAY 


115 


orders ’bout feedin’ clogs an’ ’bout lettin’ 
’em out. Go ’long now outen my kitchen. 
I’ze busy, I is, and I can’t stan’ ’round 
here watchin’ you show off.” 

Rusty, licking his sore nose thought¬ 
fully, sat there with his most injured air. 
Nobody cared the least little bit about 
him! When Betty had such blue days, he 
always sympathized with her. If he could 
only get out, there were the pugs and the 
rabbit to make him forget and—yes, there 
was that fisherman. He would welcome 
Rusty’s help! 

Getting out of the house was his imme¬ 
diate problem. At home, some one al¬ 
ways let him out when he spoke softly at 
the door. He tried it but Eliza was 
adamant. 

“ Go long an’ ask your folks,” she said 
without looking around from her work. 
“ Ef dey wants you to go out, dey’ll open 
de do’ for you.” 

Disconsolate, Rusty wandered into the 



116 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


front room. The family were listening to 
hear Mr. Travers tell some story that 
greatly interested them, especially Betty, 
who w 7 as much excited. Rusty sought a 
little pity ffom his small mistress. Not 
only was he being badly treated, but his 
nose was scratched and sore. He sat down 
in front of her and said, “ Woof,” very, 
very softly. 

But Betty took not the slightest notice. 
Her eyes were on Mr. Travers. She was 
giving every bit of her attention, so that 
nothing was left for her little dog. 
Rusty felt that keenly. He could not re¬ 
member a time when Betty had not 
touched him or talked to him when he had 
spoken to attract her attention. 

He heard the back door slam behind 
Eliza who had gone outside to the pump 
for water. Perhaps it would open for him 
now! Very quietly he walked to the 
kitchen, nosed the door carefully, and in 
another instant charged it and shot out 


RUSTY’S BLUE DAY 


117 


into the yard, scurried around the corner 
of the house and headed for the road. 

Eliza, singing to herself and making a 
racket with the pump, did not hear the 
door. The others, hearing it, thought 
only that Eliza had gone out or come in. 
They had not yet discovered how Rusty 
left the house apparently whenever he de¬ 
sired. So intent were they on Mr. Trav¬ 
ers that no one missed the little dog. 

Rusty paused near the door of Mr. 
Travers’s apartment. He was very curious 
about the appearance of the inside of the 
home of this man whom, until a few min¬ 
utes before, he had thought understood 
dogs. Remembering that he had ordered 
him home instead of inviting him in, 
Rusty’s ill temper again was uppermost. 
He trotted to the entrance of the grove, 
looked longingly to the right, wondering 
what was to be found in that direction, 
then resolutely turned his nose to the left 
and—headed for the fisherman. 



118 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


It proved to be much farther away than 
he had remembered, for an automobile 
travels much faster than a little dog can 
run. On foot, he was closer to the scents 
he caught now from the edge of the lake 
and which strongly tempted him to stop 
and investigate what might be in the long 
grass between the highway and the water. 
But fishing was uppermost in his mind, 
and he hesitated only once or twice. 

The snake birds, with their abnormally 
long necks, which they stretched and 
twisted into all sorts of shapes as they 
stood perched on sticks that stuck up 
out of the water, were very tempting. He 
had not had time reallv to observe them 
while in the automobile. He found that 
one sharp bark sent them flying away, so 
he lost only a little time on his way to the 
Texan. 

He trotted along at a steady pace with¬ 
out paying the slightest attention to pass¬ 
ing automobiles, the occupants of more 


RUSTY’S BLUE DAY 


119 


than one of which called to him. One 
driver stopped his car and asked him 
where he was going and where his master 
was. Rusty merely glanced up at him 
without slackening his pace. “ Guess he’s 
going home,” the driver laughed, as he 
threw in his clutch and went on his way. 

Catching sight of the pavilion in the 
distance, Rusty increased his pace, al¬ 
though his tongue was hanging out be¬ 
cause he had trotted a long distance on a 
very hot day. The Texan, humming 
softly to himself, did not see or hear the 
little dog that trotted on to the floor of 
the pavilion. 

Rusty’s first thought was of a drink. 
He went directly to the landing place 
where there was no railing and by lying 
down was able to reach the water that was 
almost on a level with the floor. My, he 
was thirsty! So very thirsty was he that 
he did not stop drinking to acknowledge 
the astonished greeting of the big man 


120 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


in the big hat when he happened to see 
him. 

“ Where’d you-all come from? ” asked 
the Texan, staring at the little dog, then 
turning to look up and down the high¬ 
way for the dog’s master or mistress. 
“ Where’s your master? Did you run 
ahead of him? ” 

His thirst satisfied for the time being, 
Rusty got to his feet, his tail wagging 
vigorously in greeting. “ Woof,” he said 
softly before turning to his inspection of 
the lines and their gently bobbing floats. 
No need now for the fisherman to watch 
them. Rusty would do that, and let him 
know the moment there was anything do¬ 
ing in the fishing world. 

The big friendly man watched him 
closely for a minute or two as he hummed 
softly to himself. 

“He said he had come down from the 
North,” he said to himself, “ and was 
goin’ to spend the winter in a cottage on 


RUSTY’S BLUE DAY 


121 


this lake.” His gaze roved along the 
shore as he wondered which one of many 
homes around that three-mile drive might 
be the temporary abiding-place of the 
family from the North. 

“ Said this dog run the house,” he 
chuckled, “ but I reckon this time he’s jes’ 
run away. Seems as if he said he’d come 
some day and go fishin’ with me, but I 
don’t see ary a sign of him. Now I’d like 
to know what I’m goin’ to do with that 
dog. Come here and let me read your 
collar,” he ordered, addressing Rusty, 
just then engaged in closely watching one 
of the floats that seemed to be a trifle 
more animated than the others. 

Rusty turned his head at the command, 
hesitated while he took one more look at 
the float, then walked obediently to his 
companion and stood patiently while he 
tried to read the inscription engraved on 
his collar. 

“ Can’t see to read it that far away,” 


122 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


the Texan said in disgust, “ an’ I’m too 
fat to bend down,” he added with a 

chuckle. “ Y r ou’ll have to come up here.” 

* 

Saying which he picked up Rusty, dodged 
a caress from his tongue and managed to 
decipher the name and address. 

“ Abbott. Arthur Abbott,” he read 
aloud. “ That’s the name. The address 
don’t do no good down here. Can’t be 
livin’ far from here, seems so, for this dog 
to find his way here. An’ I remember 
they drove that way,” he mused looking 
down the highway along which Rusty had 
come. “ Well, I’ll wait a spell an’ see if 
they come lookin’ for him. I ain’t much 
on long walks,” he concluded with another 
chuckle as he put Rusty down. 

Seeing that the big Texan had no fur¬ 
ther interest in him, Rusty resumed his 
watch over the lines. What little breeze 
there had been had died down. The sur¬ 
face of the lake was like a mirror. Rusty 
stretched out on the very edge of the pa- 


RUSTY’S BLUE DAY 


123 


vilion panting in the heat but keeping a 
watchful eye on the lines. 

Once or twice he glanced up at his 
friend, leaning against the railing hum¬ 
ming softly. The man’s eyes were on the 
little spaniel, but Rusty could see they 
were kindly eyes. He didn’t mind being 
watched. Finally he dozed off, only to be 
aroused by the rattling of a paper. He 
saw that his friend was preparing to eat 
something. My, how hungry Rusty was! 

He hadn’t realized it before, but it had 
been a very long time since breakfast, and 
he had traveled a long distance. He got 
quickly to his feet to sit up and beg. 

The Texan munched steadily on a huge 
bite of a big sandwich that he had taken 
from the paper. 

“ That’s an old trick,” he said to Rusty. 
“ Every dog knows that. Out on my 
ranch I wouldn’t have a dog that couldn’t 
do more’n that for a bite of a cold snack.” 

It was very hot and Rusty was tired, 


124 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


but it was plain to him that he must go 
through with his tricks before this man 
would give him anything to eat. He 
sneezed. 

“ Uh, huh, that’s another real common 
trick,” said the fisherman taking another 
huge bite of his sandwich. “ Prob’ly if 
you was home where you belong, you’d 
’ave had two bites by now.” He con¬ 
tinued to chew while he looked steadily at 
the little dog. 

Rusty spoke very softly. The man 
only shook his head solemnly. 

Walking to the railing, because there 
was no chair there, Rusty sat up, stuck 
his nose between his paws and offered 
prayer. He was beginning to lose faith 
in the efficacy of prayer as a means to ob¬ 
tain food, because Mandy long since had 
refused to let it tempt her to feed him 
between meals, and this new Mandy just 
laughed. But it was worth trying on a 
stranger who was eating. 


RUSTY’S BLUE DAY 


125 



RUSTY OFFERED PRAYER 


“ Well,” the Texan said at last, “ I 
dunno but it seems as if you’d ought to 
get a bite for that prayer. It was a long 
’un, and you look sort o’ petered out.” 

Rusty peeked because no one said, 
“Amen,” which was the way his prayer 
should end, he had been taught. Only a 
very small piece of bread remained in 
sight. He was so hungry and tired and 

















































126 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


no one cared the least little bit about a 
spaniel to-day. He was very forlorn. 

The fisherman continued to watch him, 
his brows puckered as he considered what 
ought to be done. “ If he was Sarah’s 
dog, she’d be cry in’ her eyes out and 
thinkin’ all sorts o’ things had happened 
to him. But it’s awful hot, and maybe 
I’d have to walk a mile or two. Then I 
might not find where he lived. All right,” 
he said to Rusty. “ Y r our prayer’s an¬ 
swered. Here’s a bite, just to show there 
ain’t no hard feelin’s, ’cause it seems as if 
you was prayin’ for something to eat, and 
not for your folks.” 

Rusty gobbled the bit of bread and 
meat held down to him, his tail expressing 
his gratitude, and his hope that the paper 
bag contained more of the same with 
which his friend would not be selfish. 

But this big man slowly tied a string 
around whatever was left in the paper and 
dropped it into a big pocket with a sigh. 


RUSTY’S BLUE DAY 


127 


“ Better hang on to the rest a while,” 
he said to Rusty. “ Maybe we got a long 
walk ahead o’ us, an’ it’s hotter’n the in¬ 
side o’ Sarah’s oven when she’s bakin’. 
Dunno’s I ever see it any hotter.” He 
looked down the highway. “ Maybe I 
could get some feller to give us a lift,” he 
said aloud. “ But if you don’t know your 
new home, we’d drive right past it. I 
don’t know none of the folks that live 
down that way, but I s’pose we could stop 
an’ ask som’ers.” 

All this soft-spoken talk was Greek to 
Rusty. But it was plain that all he was 
going to get to eat was one little piece of 
bread and meat. He wished he were 
home. In all his life, he had never known 
such an unsatisfactory day as this. It 
seemed to him as if he hadn’t a friend in 
the world. 

It never occurred to him what might be 
the feelings of Betty and the rest of his 
family. His mind was entirely on the 


128 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


fact that he was hungry, and that this 
friend who liked to fish and who liked lit¬ 
tle dogs had food that he had eaten, and 
more that he had put in a pocket, while a 
little spaniel had begged hard for some¬ 
thing for his empty stomach. 

Dejectedly he sat there, his eyes plead¬ 
ing with his friend to give a poor starving 
little dog just one bite of something. He 
allowed himself to be picked up and 
tucked under one arm as his friend, after 
one last look at his lines, slowly started 
from the pavilion for the highway. 

The sun beat down, and not a breath 
of air stirred. Rusty wanted another 
drink of water. He wriggled to be al¬ 
lowed to get down and get one. But the 
big man held him comfortably without 
hurting him and walked very slowly. 

“ This is one of those days when it ain’t 
goin’ to do me a bit o’ good to walk much 
in this sun,” his friend told Rusty. “ I’ll 
have to take a chance on catchin’ a ride. 


RUSTY’S BLUE DAY 


129 


If I don’t get one, I’ll take him home to 
daughter’s and keep him till we see an ad¬ 
vertisement ’bout him. Abbott’ll never 
let this dog get away without tryin’ to find 
him.” 

He stopped short as an idea struck him. 
“ Seems as if he might come here lookin’ 
for him,” he muttered. He stood for 
some minutes considering his next move 
until the driver of a touring car, seeing 
him, stopped and asked if he could give 
him a lift. “ Pretty hot to walk,” he said. 

The big Texan told the story of Rusty, 
and the two men, strangers but both dog- 
lovers, considered what should be done. 
Finally they agreed that they would drive 
along slowly and see if the dog recognized 
his home. If that failed, they would then 
decide on the next move. 

Rusty was delighted to be taken in the 
car. Even on this day when everything 
had made him unhappy he could find 
pleasure in riding. He settled down com- 


130 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


fortably in the arms of his friend. 
“ Woof,” he said to show that he was 
ready. 

The driver passed the first three houses 
without slowing down. He knew the 
families in them, he said. He stopped in 
front of a small cottage, but Rusty’s only 
response was a request to drive along. As 
they rounded a curve, Rusty barked 
lustily and squirmed to be freed of the 
huge hands that held him. 

“ Reckon as how he thinks he’s gettin’ 
home,” observed the Texan. “ Seems as 
if he’s gettin’ a leetle nervous and ex¬ 
cited.” 

Rusty was, because from somewhere 
back in the grove he could hear the three 
notes of his master’s whistle and Betty’s 
tearful calling: “ Rusty. Rusty. • Hi, 
Rusty. Where are you? ” 

“ ’Pears like they’re callin’ you, little 
fellow,” his big friend said as the driver 
pulled to the side of the highway and 


RUSTY’S BLUE DAY 


131 


stopped at the entrance. Rusty stretched 
quickly and caught his friend unawares 
with a grateful kiss from a very moist 
tongue. 

In another instant he had leaped from 
the automobile and was racing toward the 
rear of the grove, those big ears of his 
flopping and his feet barely touching the 
ground. Nothing was wrong with his 
world just then, for he had come back to 
hear his folks calling him as if they really 
wanted him, and he was racing to them. 


CHAPTER VII 


RUSTY MEETS PIGGY 

As Rusty came within sight of Betty he 
yipped a greeting and leaped into her 
arms, causing her to drop to the ground 
with tears of joy in her eyes. She alter¬ 
nately hugged and scolded him, demand¬ 
ing to know where he had been, and if he 
did not realize that they all had been 
“ nearly crazy ” because they feared he 
had been killed or stolen. 

Mr. Abbott, hurrying from farther 
back in the grove, said nothing as he 
watched them, but he swallowed hard once 
or twice before responding to his wife’s 
anxious inquiry from the house, telling 
her that they had found him, or that he 
had found them. He walked toward an 
automobile that had been driven into the 
yard. 


132 


RUSTY MEETS PIGGY 133 

Rusty saw it also, and as soon as he 
could squirm from Betty’s encircling arms 
he dashed to introduce Mr. Abbott to his 
rescuers, although Rusty was unwilling to 
admit that he had been rescued. He was 
confident that he would have found his 
way back to them, just as he had found 
his way to the fisherman. 

Betty, too, hurried to the car to hear 
the friendly Texan tell about his visit 
from her pet. 

“ I reckoned,” he said, “ that ’twould be 
just as well to keep him hungry, ’cause 
’most any dog will go where it’s fed unless 
he’s too far lost. Seems as if he figgered 
I was pretty stingy with my lunch, ’cause 

he did a lot of prayin’ over me, but I guess 

<» 

this young lady’ll see he gets suthin’ to 
eat.” 

Betty thanked him for his kindness to 
her dog and promised that his hunger 
would be satisfied. The driver of the car, 
who had introduced himself as Mr. Rob- 


134 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


bins, with his home farther down the road 
near the end of the lake, told Betty that 
he had a pet goat that she would like to 
see. When the whole story had been told 
and both gentlemen had declined to re¬ 
main to dinner, they drove off, leaving the 
family very thankful that Rusty had 
fallen into such understanding hands. 

Rusty, delighted to be back once more 
with his folks and not considering that his 
personally conducted expedition had 
frightened them, rushed to Mrs. Abbott 
on the piazza and demonstrated his affec¬ 
tion for her so effusively that she did very 
little scolding. 

Dinner was a very solemn meal. Rusty 
could understand that they were discuss¬ 
ing him, but he was too deeply interested 
in obtaining every possible bite from 
Betty to give his attention to their plans 
for him. He had worked off his fit of the 
blues, and was quite ready to resume his 
usual relations with all members of the 


RUSTY MEETS PIGGY 


135 


family whether they were quite ready to 
forgive him or not. 

It was not until after he had finished 
the last scrap of his real meal in the 
kitchen, and had hastily turned off a few 
tricks for Eliza in the hope of getting a 
“ second helping,” that he thought again 
of the rabbit. Finding the back door un¬ 
latched, he charged it and was outside be¬ 
fore the bang of the door revealed his 
method of escape from the house to the 
members of the family. 

A combined shout from every one in¬ 
cluding Eliza, who had been accused un¬ 
justly of letting him out, caused Rusty to 
stop on his way to the brush pile. 

“Now we know how he gets away!” 
exclaimed Mr. Abbott hurrying into the 
kitchen and examining the latch. “ We’ll 
fix that at once, and then perhaps we shall 
be able to prevent this rascal from going 
fishing without permission. Where are 
you going now? ” he demanded of the dog. 


136 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


That sounded like old times, Rusty 
thought. He barked engagingly, wiggled 
all over, and in every way known to an in¬ 
telligent dog invited company. 

Mr. Abbott, who was still a little pro¬ 
voked over the morning escapade, hesi¬ 
tated but yielded to Betty’s suggestion 
that they go and see whatever it was that 
interested Rusty in the grove. Together 
they followed him to the brush pile, where, 
by the time they reached it, the little dog 
was whining and digging at the brush. 

They tried to peer into the tangled 
mass, but could see nothing. Mr. Abbott 
remembered enough of his boyhood to 
guess what was hidden in there, but, like 
Mr. Travers the day before, he declined to 
move the pile to uncover a rabbit. In¬ 
stead, he suggested that they all take a 
ride, reminding Betty that in another day 
or two she would be in school and, except 
on Saturdays and Sundays, there would 
not be time for long rides. 


RUSTY MEETS PIGGY 


137 


That is how it came about that Mrs. 
Abbott bought a gourd, used in the poorer 
families of the country districts of the 
South as a dipper from which to drink, 
and it is how it came about that Rusty 
discovered that little black spaniels are 
not the only pets that do about as they 
please in houses where they have been 
made welcome. 

After consulting Mr. Travers as to a 
good route to take, they started off, tell¬ 
ing Eliza that they would not be back un¬ 
til dark and that she need not stay to get 
dinner for them. It was just as well that 
they told her that, for she would have had 
a long time to wait to have cooked dinner 
for them that night. 

It was new country through which they 
drove, and Rusty, tired as he was from his 
adventure of the morning, found much to 
interest him. Miles after they had passed 
through one pretty town and miles before 
they reached the next, they had a punc- 


138 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


ture. It was the first mishap they had ex¬ 
perienced in all their long journey. 

Not far ahead of them was a cabin, a 
little larger than those ordinarily occupied 
by negroes. Mr. Abbott decided to drive 
to that cabin where it would be possible 
to get a drink of water—several drinks, 
in fact, for every one was thirsty. 

As they stopped, Betty exclaimed at 
the queer things that were hanging in 
trees and on poles near the cabin. Her 
mother explained that they were gourds 
from which the seeds and pulp had been 
removed that the shells might be left to 
dry for various uses. Some of them were 
used for drinking cups, she said, others 
were left in the trees for martins to make 
their nests in, and still others were used 
for almost any purpose that a china or 
earthen dish would be. 

Mr. Abbott sounded the horn, and a 
powerfully built man, with a heavy beard 
and hair that had not been cut for months, 



RUSTY MEETS PIGGY 


139 


appeared from the shade in the rear of the 
cabin, while a woman and several children 
came to the door in open-mouthed wonder 
at the unexpected visitors. The woman 
and the children were barefooted, and 
Betty secretly envied them. 

After Mr. Abbott had explained what 
had occurred and the desires of the family 
for cooling drink, they were invited cor¬ 
dially to “ come right in.” Betty and 
Rusty jumped out, Mrs. Abbott follow¬ 
ing more slowly. 

Rusty was the first to investigate the 
interior of the cabin, disappearing inside 
just before two big, gaunt hounds came 
around from the rear of the cabin. The 
next instant there was a great clattering 
of tiny feet inside, and some excited bark¬ 
ing from Rusty. 

Not knowing what to expect, but fear¬ 
ing for her pet, Betty dashed for the door, 
only to fall heavily as a small but very fat 
little pig, white as snow and squealing at 


140 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


the top of his voice, shot between her legs, 
and raced for the shelter of the brush near 

by. 

Rusty leaped over his little mistress, 
barking gleefully and unmindful of the 



RUSTY LEAPED OVER HIS LITTLE MISTRESS 


calls of Mrs. Abbott. But he stopped in¬ 
stantly at the sight of the two big hounds, 
growling deep in their throats. With one 
longing glance where the pig had disap¬ 
peared, still squealing, the little spaniel 


RUSTY MEETS PIGGY 141 

hurried to the protection of his big 
mistress. 

The man, much amused at Rusty’s re¬ 
treat, spoke sharply to his two dogs, and 
two barefooted children darted after their 
squealing pet. It was all very confusing 
for a moment, especially to Betty, who 
didn’t quite understand what had hap¬ 
pened. 

But by the time Betty had scrambled to 
her feet and had discovered that Rusty 
was safe with her mother and that the big 
dogs were obediently lying down at their 
master’s feet, she had managed to raise a 
smile, for every one else was enjoying a 
hearty laugh, not so much at Betty, but 
at the whole string of happenings. 

The mother of the children had gone to 
the kitchen for water and was not an eye¬ 
witness of the events that caused the 
laughter on the part of the others. With 
a pail brimming with water in one hand 
and a long-handled gourd in the other, she 


142 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


was so puzzled over the actions of the 
others that explanations had to be made 
and apologies offered for Rusty’s be¬ 
havior. 

She immediately laid the blame for 
everything on the little pig. “ The young- 
uns found it a few weeks ago down at the 
edge of the ma’sh, and they brought it to 
the house,” she said. “ Now he’s got to be 
a reg’lar bother, round under foot all the 
time pesterin’ me when I’m busy. But 
the children won’t hear to turnin’ him out, 
and I dunno’s he’d stay out if we tried to 
do it. I can’t for the life o’ me see what’s 
goin’ ter happen when he’s grow’d up. 
There ain’t no room for him in here now, 
and he ain’t big yet.” 

Explanations made and the cooling 
drinks enjoyed, Mrs. Abbott and Betty 
were invited into the house out of the sun 
to wait while the men were changing the 
tire. Mrs. Abbott gladly accepted and, as 
she told her husband several hours later, 


RUSTY MEETS PIGGY 


143 


she had never been in a room where soap 
and water had been used so effectively. 

“ That plain board floor actually 
shone,” she said. “It is no wonder that 
little pig skidded when he tried to run on 
that floor.” 

Betty followed her mother into the 
house, and soon was playing with two of 
the older children, looking appealingly at 
her mother as the children displayed for 
her entertainment the meagre assortment 
of dolls and toys that were their treasures. 

Rusty, after satisfying himself that 
there were no more pigs to chase, made 
friends with the younger children, and 
soon was romping with them and a fox 
terrier that had appeared from some¬ 
where, while Mrs. Abbott discussed 
gourds with the mother of the children. 

Meanwhile Mr. Abbott and Mr. Brack- 
ley—for that was the name of the owner 
of the cabin—had changed the tire, and 
Mr. Abbott attempted to start the engine. 




144 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


To his surprise, it refused to work. For 
an hour he fussed with it. He was no 
mechanic, and Mr. Brackley said that if 
the engine were a mule he would know it 
was pure cussedness, but he was just as 
ignorant of machinery as Mr. Abbott. 

The nearest garage was six miles ahead 
and it was getting late in the afternoon. 
When it was evident that they were not to 
be able to start the engine, Mr. Brackley 
had his small son mount one of his mules 
and ride to the next town to get a 
mechanic. Mr. Abbott wrote a note giv¬ 
ing the name of the car and explaining as 
well as he could what was the trouble. 

The two children who had gone into the 
marsh after their pet had long before re¬ 
turned with it. Inside the cabin, Rusty 
was being held securely in Betty’s arms 
while all watched the fox terrier and the 
pig play on the floor. The dog and the 
pig had been playmates for weeks, and 
they amused Mrs. Abbott and Betty so 


RUSTY MEETS PIGGY 


145 


much that neither realized that it had 
taken a great deal of time to change one 
tire. It was not until Mr. Abbott entered 
and reported that he had been obliged to 
send for a repair man that Betty discov¬ 
ered it was very late and that she was very 
hungry. 

Mrs. Brackley upon hearing the news 
promptly said that they must all remain 
for supper and, although Mrs. Abbott 
protested that they would wait until they 
reached home, her obj ections were brushed 
aside. 

Rusty heartily approved of the speed 
with which the strange woman and three 
of the older children got a meal of fried 
salt pork, boiled potatoes, cream gravy, 
and corn pone. He had been released by 
Betty as he and the fox terrier proved 
friendly, and Mr. Abbott declared he 
hadn’t had so much fun since he went to 
a circus. 

The pig, offered a bit of something to 


146 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


eat, would grab it and, grunting and 
squealing, start on a run with his play¬ 
mate close behind and Rusty bringing up 
the rear. Much practice had taught the 
pig that by running close to the wall he 
could turn corners without much skidding, 
but the fox terrier and Rusty, while they 
gained rapidly on the straight runs, lost 
all they had gained when they tried to 
turn the corners, dig in their claws as they 
would. 

Mr. Abbott laughed until his eyes ran 
with tears, and from the stove where she 
was preparing the meal, Mrs. Brackley 
smiled rather grimly and explained that 
much of every day she spent with pig and 
dog racing around the room, except when 
they both got so tired that they slept. 

It hadn’t seemed possible to Betty that 
so many people would be able to eat at the 
same time, but they managed it, because 
several of the children took their food and 
sat on the doorsteps, sharing bits of it 


RUSTY MEETS PIGGY 147 

with the pig and the terrier, just as Betty 
shared some of her meal with Rusty. 

It was late in the evening before the 
trouble with the engine had been located 
and repairs made. The Brackleys would 
not accept pay for the excellent meal, or 
even for the favor of the boy’s long ride 
for aid. Mrs. Brackley had insisted upon 
giving Mrs. Abbott several of the gourds 
she had admired, and when the Abbotts 
finally left, it was with the promise of an¬ 
other call in the near future. 

Rusty and Betty, after a few miles, 
cuddled down and slept all the long way 
home. Rusty’s twitching legs gave plain 
evidence that in his dreams he was enjoy¬ 
ing a chase after a little pig that in turn 
was being chased by a friendly little fox 
terrier. 

Neither of them heard of plans Betty’s 
father and mother made for the second 
visit to the Brackleys, 


CHAPTER VIII 

V 

RUSTY SHOWS OFF 

Rusty and the Abbott family awak¬ 
ened the next morning to the first Sunday 
in their winter home. Rusty and Betty 
were first up, in spite of the warning of 
Betty’s mother that it was her last chance 
to lie abed, because the next morning 
would find her attending school. Even 
that prospect could not keep Betty and 
her pet in bed, with the tempting song of 
the mocking bird coming in through the 
open windows from the pecan tree. 

On their return from the gate with the 
milk Mr. Travers, who was standing in 
the door of his apartment, told Betty that 
if they cared to do so they could leave 
Rusty with him while they attended 
church. 


148 


RUSTY SHOWS OFF 


149 


“ Would you like that, Rusty? ” Betty 
asked. 

“ Woof,” said Rusty, meaning of 
course he would, especially if he were al¬ 
lowed to visit in his house. To confirm 
what he had said, he wiggled his way to 
Mr. Travers and accepted a petting. 
Who could tell but that he might be will¬ 
ing to help get that rabbit? 

So in spite of the fact that Rusty had 
never been known to allow the automobile 
to leave him behind without making a fuss, 
this particular Sunday morning, seated on 
the ground beside Mr. Travers who gently 
played with one ear, he watched without 
even one little whine Mr. Abbott drive 
away with all those he loved best. But 
no sooner had the machine disappeared 
around the bend in the highway than he 
leaped at Mr. Travers, demanding that he 
do something to pay a little dog for hav¬ 
ing behaved so well when his folks drove 
away and left him behind. 


150 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


“ All right, sir. I get the idea/’ Mr. 
Travers assured him. “ Just what shall 
we do first? ” 

To Rusty, that was the most foolish of 
questions. So long as they did something 
and kept on doing something else, Mr. 
Travers was welcome to begin with what¬ 
ever he preferred. Rusty danced and 
leaped in front of him saying plainly in 
dog language, “ Come on. Let’s get 
started doing something.” 

Mr. Travers was paying no attention to 
Rusty’s begging. Instead, he was look¬ 
ing up in a grapefruit tree that stood near 
his door. After some moments he moved 
toward his apartment. 

That suited Rusty. Ever since his first 
meeting with this friend, he had wanted 
to see where he lived. He raced ahead, 
turning to look back at nearly every 
jump. 

The fact that Mr. Travers was talking 
to a bird made no difference to the little 


RUSTY SHOWS OFF 


151 


black spaniel. He leaped up at the door 
impatiently. No man of any intelligence 
would be taking a dog into his home un¬ 
less there was something to eat in there. 

He dashed into the big living-room and 
into the bedroom, giving merely a cursory 
glance and sniff as he hurried along. He 
planned a more thorough inspection after 
the lunch that he was certain would be 
given to him. 

He watched with every evidence of ap¬ 
proval while his friend reached up to a 
shelf for some small bit of what Rusty 
was certain must be food. But it wasn’t 
offered to him. Whatever it was, Mr. 
Travers put it in his mouth and immedi¬ 
ately went outside, leaving the door open 
for Rusty to follow or not as he pleased. 

That presented a problem. It was 
really necessary for his peace of mind to 
look into every nook and corner of this 
friend’s home, and at the same time it was 
important to know what was going on 


152 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


outside, especially with Mr. Travers hav¬ 
ing something in his mouth. People 
didn’t put in their mouths what was not 
good to eat, Rusty knew, even while re¬ 
membering that some folks ate things like 
pickled beets that no self-respecting dog 
would eat. After having been caught 
once with a slice of pickled beet, Rusty 
had learned to take a hasty sniff before 
depending on Betty’s judgment of what 
was thoroughly tasty and satisfying. 

With a hasty sniff at the covering of a 
very tempting couch, and a quick stand 
on his hind legs to see if there were pillows 
there to curl up against, he hurried to the 
door to keep an eye on Mr. Travers. For 
once in his life, Rusty was so astonished 
that he was struck absolutely motionless! 

On Mr. Travers’s shoulder, pecking 
away at whatever it was that his friend 
held in his mouth, was a perfectly gor¬ 
geous bird. He was red all over, with a 
topknot that nodded back and forth. LTp 


RUSTY SHOWS OFF 


153 


at camp, Rusty had seen a chipmunk and 
a squirrel dash up on the piazza and grab 
crumbs and run away, but never had he 
seen a bird feeding from a man’s shoulder. 

He couldn’t be expected to remain si¬ 
lent long, for he believed in applauding 
when applause was due. In a moment he 
yipped with delight, and leaped up at Mr. 
Travers with low barks at the perform¬ 
ance he seemed to think was being staged 
for his express benefit. 

Instantly the gorgeous bird, that Mr. 
Travers told him was a redbird, flew to 
the top of the tree where he warbled 
“ Pretty. Pretty. Pretty. Pretty.” 
Then he plumed his feathers, which really 
didn’t need any attention, that Rusty 
might be impressed with him. 

Rusty was doubtful for a moment 
whether he would be scolded for having 
caused the bird to fly away, but his friend 
paid no attention to him. Taking what¬ 
ever it was that he had held in his mouth, 


154 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


he walked to the tree, placed what was left 
carefully on a limb, and then closed the 
door to his rooms. 

“ Now we’ll go walking,” he said, turn¬ 
ing away. “ I had to stop and give my 
redbird his morning lunch of a nut, or he 
would have thought I had deserted him. 
He’ll get used to having you around be¬ 
fore long, and won’t take much notice of 
you.” 

Knowing that they were on their way 
to somewhere, Rusty paid not the slight¬ 
est attention to what was said to him. 
Actions always told him more than words. 
It was plain to Rusty that they were 
headed for the brush pile in the grove, the 
hiding-place of that animal that could run 
faster than he could. Sure enough, Mr. 
Travers walked right toward it. Before 
he reached it, however, Rusty was whin¬ 
ing and digging where he had seen that 
brown hopping animal disappear. 

“ You might as well learn that you 


RUSTY SHOWS OFF 


155 


never will be able to dig a rabbit out of a 
brush heap, or a stone wall, either,” Mr. 
Travers said, smiling at the frantic efforts 
of the little dog. 

“ Here,” he called. “ There he goes 
now, out of his back door. See him! ” 
Mr. Travers pointed toward the break in 
the fence through which they had gone 
with the basket of eggs. 

It was an instant or two before Rusty 
caught sight of the rabbit. Then with a 
joyous bark he was off in pursuit. Mr. 
Travers laughed and sauntered along to 
where in the neighboring orchard he 
could see Mr. Webster inspecting his 
trees. Mr. Travers was in no haste, even 
if Rusty was, and the rabbit in even more 
of a hurry. 

Seeing Mr. Webster and hearing the 
sudden snippy barks of Flossie from be¬ 
hind her master, the rabbit turned sharply 
to the right. Rusty cut across lots, but, 
run as he might, the rabbit gained on him, 


156 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


turned again, and in another minute was 
safely back in the brush pile with Rusty 
barking and whining and digging at the 
almost invisible hole into which bunny had 
scurried. 

Mr. Travers, who had paused to watch 
the finish of the chase, whistled for Rusty 
and continued his leisurely way to join 
Mr. Webster, who had been equally inter¬ 
ested in the sight of a black spaniel trying 
to overtake a healthy bunny. 

Satisfied that he was to receive no aid 
from his friend in once more getting that 
hopping creature out where he could chase 
him, and hearing the excited barking of 
Flossie, Rusty went to the rescue of his 
ally, for he was by no means certain but 
that he might need to be rescued from the 
pug. Rusty had never had a fight with 
another animal, but one thing was certain 
in his mind, no dog was going to attack a 
friend of his without having an argument 
with Rusty. 


RUSTY SHOWS OFF 


157 


Panting a little from his run, Rusty 
reached Mr. Travers, between whom and 
Mr. Webster Flossie was barking furi¬ 
ously and defiantly. The little spaniel sat 
down, looking up at his friend as if a trifle 
ashamed of himself for having wasted 
energy because of the barking of a foolish 
and ignorant puppy. Rusty looked every¬ 
where but at Flossie. 

The two men understood dogs, and 
both knew that Rusty had discovered that 
his services were not needed. Flossie 
gradually ceased her barking, only now 
and then bursting out with a single sharp 
yelp to notify Rusty that she was still 
there and knew that intruders were on 
her property. 

Talk about picking and marketing 
oranges and grapefruit was of no interest 
to Rusty. He made one or two advances 
to Flossie to play with him, but that ani¬ 
mal, naturally lazy and already burdened 
with fat, told him to go along about his 


158 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


own business, although she was by no 
means so cross as she had been. 

It was this attitude of Flossie that sent 
Rusty trotting back to the brush pile. He 
was able to find some fun there when 
everything else failed to interest him. So 
intent was he on nosing at one of the en¬ 
trances bunny had to his home, whining a 
little to himself in his eagerness to catch 
sight of the thing that would run when in 
the open field, that he failed to notice that 
he had a companion, until, turning to see 
that the two men were still wasting a lot 
of good time talking about fruit, he was 
surprised to see Flossie. 

The puppy with a tail that curled tight 
in a little coil over her back was watching 
him, her feet braced prepared to run, but 
curious to know what this strange black 
dog was doing. Flossie had been brought 
up by her mother to do nothing, and to let 
no one induce her to run and play. But 
somehow, with her mother away with her 


RUSTY SHOWS OFF 


159 


mistress, she found Rusty and his racing 
around very interesting. 

But her mother had told her not to as¬ 
sociate with other animals, because pugs 
were a superior race of dogs, so Flossie 
backed away when Rusty turned around. 
But she didn’t bark that snippy bark. 



HE WENT THROUGH MORE ACROBATICS 

She just growled a very little growl that 
delighted Rusty. He growled at her, 
crouched down and dodged and ran a few 
steps, the usual preliminaries to playing 
with anybody or anything. 

Flossie didn’t know what to make of 
such actions, but she growled a tiny growl 


160 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


again to see if the black dog would do 
anything else. He yipped very softly and 
went through more acrobatics, to show off 
before the little lady. 

And before she knew what she was do¬ 
ing, Flossie was clumsily trying to imitate 
him. This sent Rusty racing here and 
there, but always coming back in front of 
her. It was very warm, and Flossie was 
chunky and not used even to the little ex¬ 
ercise she had taken. She panted and lay 
down. Rusty instantly dropped flat in 
front of her. It was warm, he decided, 
and he was very thirsty. 

It was this tableau that the two men 
saw as they strolled toward the brush 
heap. It interested Mr. Webster very 
much. “ I never knew a dog of Flossie's 
breed to make friends with a dog of an¬ 
other kind on such short acquaintance,” 
he said. 

Mr. Travers thought that Rusty would 
make friends with any one or anything 


RUSTY SHOWS OFF 


161 


but, possibly, Maggie. He didn’t believe, 
he said, that even Rusty could get into 
the good graces of the older pug. 

Seeing that the dogs were very thirsty, 
the men walked to the rear of the Abbott 
cottage to the pump, where Mr. Travers 
pumped some cold water into a tin basin 
that had been placed there for Rusty’s 
benefit. Rusty rushed to it and noisily 
lapped the water, while Flossie, just as 
thirsty as Rusty, stood a short distance 
away and looked longingly at the water. 

Pausing for breath Rusty seemed to see 
her for the first time and to remember his 
manners. Licking his mouth he backed 
away and seated himself. Flossie took a 
step nearer the tempting cold water. 
Rusty rolled his eyes up at the two men 
as much as to say, “ Did you ever see any 
one so slow as she is? Here I am waiting 
for her to get a drink so I may finish 
quenching my own thirst.” 

At last Flossie mustered her courage 


162 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


and took a few hasty laps before looking 
up and backing away, as if expecting an 
attack by the larger dog. Again Rusty 
rolled his eyes to express his utter disgust. 

“ The first thing I know, Flossie will 
have a playfellow and Maggie will be 
furious,” said Mr. Webster with a quiet 
smile. Mr. Travers nodded his assent. 
Whatever he intended to have replied was 
not said, for at that moment Eliza came 
to the back door, and Rusty promptly 
spoke for something to eat. 

Cook was so astonished at the sight of 
the little pug that she exclaimed to Rusty, 
“ Where’d you get dat dog you got wid 
you? I d’clar’ to goodness you’ll be 
bringin’ de whole neighborhood here for 
victuals ’fore we knows it. I b’lieve I’ll 
give ’em jes’ a leetle snack.” 

She looked inquiringly at the two men. 
“Not more than a bite,” said Mr. Web¬ 
ster. “ We don’t feed dogs between 
meals, although you’d think to look at 


RUSTY SHOWS OFF 


163 


Flossie that she ate all the time. Besides 
that, you’ll have her here right along, beg¬ 
ging for a handout.” 

Eliza showed all her teeth in a broad 
grin, and went into the kitchen to get 
something. When she opened the screen 
door on her return, Rusty rushed up the 
steps and on to the porch. But Flossie 
held her ground and looked longingly. 

Eliza called her, but Flossie was afraid. 
She had done a great deal that morning 
that was much out of the ordinary for her. 
Going into a strange house was a little 
too much to ask. 

Impatient to have what Eliza had got 
for him and utterly forgetting his com¬ 
panion, Rusty whirled from one to an¬ 
other of his tricks, only Mr. Webster ap¬ 
parently watching him. 

Eliza, holding the door open with one 
hand and with the other trying to tempt 
the little pug to climb the steps to her, 
was astonished to have Rusty slip by her, 


164 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


grab the bit of cracker she held, and 
bound down the steps. 

Flossie, not understanding, turned tail 
and ran a few steps with a quick bark of 
fright. “ Well, I ’clare,” Eliza exclaimed 
indignantly, “ you is gettin’ more grabby 
every day you libs.” The two men 
laughed heartily. 

Rusty, in his haste to bolt the morsel 
he had seized, dropped a small piece of it 
on the ground. He looked at Flossie to 
invite her to eat it, and backed away. 

Flossie, like Rusty, did love to eat, and 
she had no apparent fear of putting on 
flesh as so many young girls have. But 
she hesitated. Rusty poked the bit of 
cracker with his nose, and again backed 
away, looking up at the men as if to ask 
them if there was anything he could do 
to convince her that she was welcome to 
the food. 

Something moving in the orchard just 
then caught his eye. “Yip, yip!” he 


RUSTY SHOWS OFF 


165 


barked. “ There’s that rabbit. Come 
on.” He raced down through the grove. 

Flossie, after her momentary fright at 
Rusty’s sudden bark, caught up the mor¬ 
sel of cracker and, with a high-pitched 
imitation of Rusty’s bark of delight, 
chased after him to the delighted “ Yah, 
yah!” of Eliza and the more subdued 
laughter of the men. 

“ That rabbit and a few others have 
been around here for some time,” Mr. 
Webster said. “ Now that Rusty has 
come, they are going to have one very 
busy time.” 

They moved toward the pile, where 
Flossie was making just as much noise as 
Rusty and trying to imitate him in dig¬ 
ging at the ends of the brush with her 
little forefeet. 

From the Webster home came the 
barking of Maggie, just returned with 
her mistress. It came nearer and nearer. 

“ Now we’ll see what will happen,” Mr. 


166 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


Webster chuckled. “ Maggie won’t like 
this at all.” 

Flossie, pausing to get her breath, 
heard for the first time her mother’s indig¬ 
nant voice. She hesitated, gave a happy 
reply and, with a longing look at Rusty 
and the brush pile, trotted toward her out¬ 
raged parent. 

Rusty, happy over having acquired a 
playmate, trotted after her, but stopped 
at the furious challenge of the angry 
mother. 

When Flossie, seeing how matters 
stood, turned and joined her mother in 
scolding, Rusty sat down. “ Well, what 
do you think of that for shabby treat¬ 
ment? ” his low growl said plainly. 
“ Here I got her a drink, gave her some¬ 
thing to eat, played with her, and showed 
her where that hopping animal hides, and 
now she turns against me.” 

The men, knowing just what his feel¬ 
ings were, laughed a little. “ Come on, 


RUSTY SHOWS OFF 


167 


Rusty,” Mr. Travers called. “ We’ll go 
down to my rooms and see if there is any¬ 
thing interesting down there.” 

Grumbling to himself and looking back 
every few steps, Rusty followed his 
friend, and in five minutes, having com¬ 
pleted a thorough painstaking inspection 
of every corner of the rooms, curled up on 
the couch with two big sofa pillows at his 
back to take a well-earned nap and to 
dream of rabbits and pug dogs, neither of 
which knew how to treat a fellow decently. 


CHAPTER IX 


RUSTY PUZZLES HIS MASTER 

A little ashamed because he had slept 
so soundly on Mr. Travers’s couch that 
his family had returned from church with¬ 
out his knowledge, Rusty, after Betty 
had called to get him, resolved to stick 
close to his folks for the rest of the day 
at least. 

From Mr. Travers, Betty learned of 
Rusty’s adventure with Flossie. She did 
not think very much of pug dogs. She 
said they were homely and disagreeable, 
and she couldn’t understand, she told 
Rusty, how he could have anything to do 
with them. 

When Betty reported at the dinner 
table what Rusty had been doing, her 
mother suggested that Rusty since leav- 

168 


RUSTY PUZZLES IIIS MASTER 169 


ing home had had very little play. They 
had all been too busy and too interested 
in new scenes to give him the attention he 
had been accustomed to have, and Bettv 
as yet had no playmates to help entertain 
Rusty. Dogs, like girls, her mother said, 
liked playmates, and Rusty had done his 
best to amuse himself. 

That gave Mr. Abbott his opportunity 
once more to bewail the fact that he had 
bought the dog for himself, and had 
hardly ever had him for more than a min¬ 
ute at a time. He announced that Rusty 
need look no farther than his own master 
for some one to play with, because now 
that they were settled for the winter and 
he had no business to attend to, he would 
have nothing else to do but play with his 
dog. 

Betty reminded her father, as she 
caught up Rusty for one of those quick 
hugs and kisses he was accustomed to re¬ 
ceive without any apparent reason, that 


1T0 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


she had always said dogs should have 
some man to chum with part of the time. 
She pretended to whisper to Rusty that 
he would soon get tired of being around 
with only a man, and would come back to 
her. 

Rusty kissed her, accepted a bit of 
bread, licked his mouth carefully, and 
patiently awaited the next morsel. 

“ So it’s all arranged, Rusty/’ said Mr. 
Abbott. “ Beginning to-morrow while 
Betty is in school and her mother is fuss¬ 
ing around the house or doing errands or 
something, you and I will get some exer¬ 
cise. One thing we will do is to walk 
around the lake before it gets too hot. 
Then you and I will go up to the club 
house, where they bowl on the lawn, and 
see what good we are at that game. And 
who knows but that we shall go golfing 
some day! ” 

It was plain to Rusty that at last some 
one was to pay some attention to him. 


RUSTY PUZZLES HIS MASTER 171 


Except at camp, he never had much time 
with his master. He didn’t understand 
exactly what they were to do, but any¬ 
thing that promised excitement suited the 
little dog. His tail said so plainly. He 
was ready to start then, and tried to in¬ 
duce his master to move. 

But every one found the weather that 
day very hot and, as they were not thor¬ 
oughly rested from their long ride, before 
Rusty knew it they were all taking naps; 
even Betty, who always objected to rest¬ 
ing except when she went to bed at night. 

Rusty, having had his nap on Mr. 
Travers’s couch, was inclined to be pro¬ 
voked when they all went to sleep. He 
looked about for something to do. Eliza 
had the afternoon off, so she was not there 
to talk to him. He found the back door 
securely latched. Standing there won¬ 
dering what to do with himself until his 
master should be ready to play, he saw 
something move far down in the grove. 


172 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


He stood up, paws against the door, to 
see better. His right forepaw touched the 
latch and his weight against the door 
swung it open, very much to the surprise 
of a certain black spaniel. When the door 
opened, Rusty, without knowing just how 
he had worked it, found himself outside, 
once more free to amuse himself. 

The slam of the door aroused Mr. Ab¬ 
bott, but in the moment or two required 
for him to realize what had disturbed his 
nap Rusty had raced well down in the 
grove, intent on discovering what it could 
have been that he saw move. 

“ That dog has opened the back door 
again! ” exclaimed Mr. Abbott, springing 
from his comfortable chair. He hurried 
to the back porch followed by a very 
sleepy Betty and her mother. Rusty was 
nowhere to be seen, and the door was 
latched! 

“ Y r ou were dreaming, Arthur,” Mrs. 
Abbott said, suppressing a yawn. “ Rusty 


RUSTY PUZZLES HIS MASTER 173 


is taking a nap somewhere. Go and look 
on his blanket, Betty. You will find him 
there.” 

But Betty did not find him! 

Very much puzzled over the means 
Rusty had used to unlatch the door, Mr. 
Abbott was more interested at the mo¬ 
ment in inspecting the latch than he was 
in learning the whereabouts of the dog. 

Then Betty, remembering how he had 
wandered off the day before and gone fish¬ 
ing, ran to the gate to look up and down 
the road. Not seeing him she ran to the 
back of the house calling, “ Hi, Rusty. 
Hi, Rusty! Where are you?” 

Mr. Abbott gave his own special three- 
note whistle, sharp and insistent. From 
far down in the grove Rusty answered 
with a quick “ Yip,” which meant “ I hear 
you, and I’ll be there in just a minute.” 

Betty, hurrying through the grove in 
the direction from which Rusty’s answer 
had come, met him trotting back toward 


174 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


the house, his tail announcing that he was 
especially well satisfied with himself. 

She called him to her, but he circled 
around, headed straight for the house. 
Betty could not understand such action 
on the part of her pet. She ran after him, 
calling to her father that Rusty was com¬ 
ing, and that she was sure he had some¬ 
thing in his mouth. 

Mr. Abbott, having abandoned his ef¬ 
fort to learn Rusty’s secret of opening the 
latched door, was seated on the steps, 
somewhat provoked at having been awak¬ 
ened from his nap, but much amused at 
the continued surprises their spaniel had 
for them. 

“I’d give something to know what else 
that dog will do,” he said to Mrs. Abbott. 
“ It begins to look as if we had lost all 
control over him. If he continues to run 
away and-” 

“ And finding eggs for you to step on,” 
interrupted his wife, “ you think we had 



RUSTY PUZZLES HIS MASTER 175 


better dispose of him. I know you. You 
were just as worried yesterday as Betty.” 

Mr. Abbott evidently considered that 
remark undeserving of comment, for he 
made none. He was intently watching 
Rusty. 

“ He has something in his mouth,” he 
observed. 

Rusty stopped in front of his master, 
and carefully placed a large white egg on 
the ground at his feet. 

“ Well, what do you know about that! ” 
Mr. Abbott exclaimed, as he joined in his 
wife’s laughter. 

“ He—wants—you—to—step—on—it,” 
gasped Mrs. Abbott sinking into a chair 
on the verge of hysterics. “ He—remem¬ 
bers—how—you—enjoyed—the-r-other 
—experience! ” 

Mr. Abbott managed to muster an¬ 
other laugh, but it was evident that he 
couldn’t be as enthusiastic over that other 
experience as his wife seemed to be. He 












176 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


asked Betty where the dog had found the 

egg. 

“ I don’t know. He was coming back 
with it when I saw him,” she replied. 
“ He wouldn’t stop and give it to me, but 
kept right on to you.” Betty was a bit 
hurt to think that she had been avoided by 
her pet in favor of her father. 

“ Of course he did,” Mrs. Abbott said, 
struggling to control her laughter. “He 
knows your father likes fresh eggs deliv¬ 
ered at his feet.” 

“ I saw this one coming, anyway,” 
Mr. Abbott responded with a chuckle. 
“ Where did you find it, Rusty? ” he 
asked. “ Come and show me.” 

Seeing his master ready to go some¬ 
where, Rusty raced in circles, barking 
with delight at the prospect of some mem¬ 
ber of his family showing a disposition to 
do something besides sleep. He seemed 
to have forgotten all about the egg. But 
Mr. Abbott had that on his mind, and 


RUSTY PUZZLES HIS MASTER 177 


with Betty walked down through the 
grove, Rusty racing ahead, dodging back 
and forth hoping for the scent of some¬ 
thing that promised fun. 

“ I imagine this egg is a product of the 
same hen that had her nest under the 
woodpile, and we’ll find that she has 
stolen another nest wherever we find a 
place in which she could hide,” Mr. Ab¬ 
bott remarked to Betty as they walked 
along. “ We’ll look under the vines on 
the fence when we get down to where you 
first saw him, because that foolish dog evi¬ 
dently doesn’t intend to lead us to where 
he found it.” 

Betty protested that Rusty had a good 
memory, or he wouldn’t have found the 
fisherman after only one visit. She was 
recalling other instances when he had 
proved that he did not forget, when Rusty 
hustled around from behind them and de¬ 
posited another large white egg in front 
of his master! 


178 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


“ You see I can pick up eggs anywhere 
around here,” his tail said very plainly. 

Betty thought that was the best kind of 
a joke on her father, for he had been peer- 



I CAN PICK UP EGGS ANYWHERE 


ing under the vines along the fence as 
they walked. She clapped her hands and 
laughed, insisting that it showed Rusty’s 
memory was all right, or that his eyesight 
was much better than theirs. 

Mr. Abbott was unwilling to believe 







RUSTY PUZZLES HIS MASTER 179 


that he had missed finding a nest under 
the vines along the fence. He stooped, 
picked up Rusty’s latest find, and exam¬ 
ined it closely. 

“ I’ll bet he went back and picked up 
the same egg,” he said. “ Your mother 
would think it a great joke to give it to 
him to bring to me.” 

But Betty merely laughed. She knew 
that her father didn’t believe that, but was 
just pretending. 

“ If you really know where this nest is, 
go bring us some more eggs,” Mr. Abbott 
ordered Rusty. 

But Rusty wanted to play. He had 
done enough egg-hunting for one hot af¬ 
ternoon. He dodged back and forth in 
front of them, and nothing could induce 
him to take even a sniff under the vines 
or lead the way to the hidden nest. 

Just between us, Rusty knew there 
were no more eggs in the nest and, as the 
hen wasn’t there, he could see no use in 


180 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


going to it. Mr. Abbott and Betty 
turned back toward the house, examining 
every likely hiding-place. But they found 
nothing. Rusty could have told them that 
they wouldn’t, for he knew it was in the 
hollow base of an old tree. 

They showed Mrs. Abbott the result of 
their hunt, and Mr. Abbott accused her of 
having Rusty use the same egg to fool 
them, but when she pointed to the table 
on which she had placed the first one, Mr. 
Abbott had to admit that no one had 
aided Rusty in producing the second egg. 

Betty suggested that they all walk over 
to the Webster home with the eggs and 
tell the story, but her father protested 
that he had had enough exercise for one 
hot afternoon and wanted to resume his 
interrupted nap. So Betty and her 
mother, Betty carrying the eggs, went 
through the gap in the fence to tell the 
story of 

of course went with them. 


Rusty’s latest discovery. Rusty 


RUSTY PUZZLES HIS MASTER 181 


It was an earnest group of searchers 
for eggs that passed an hour late that 
afternoon looking into what they believed 
was every possible hiding-place for a hen. 
But they looked in vain. With such a 
party as Mrs. Webster and his two mis¬ 
tresses, to say nothing of Flossie and 
Maggie, Rusty could not have been ex¬ 
pected to look for eggs or nests. He spent 
all his time trying to induce Flossie to 
romp with him, which very much excited 
an indignant Maggie. She didn’t approve 
in the least of this strange black dog mak¬ 
ing advances to her daughter. 

Dusk was settling down when they 
gave up the search, but in the meantime 
Mrs. Abbott had promised to go on the 
bird-hunting expedition Mrs. Webster 
had suggested to Betty when they first 
met. By the time they finally got back 
to the cottage, even Rusty was willing to 
admit that he had had enough exercise for 
the day. 


CHAPTER X 


RUSTY MEETS PETER 

Very early the next morning, Rusty 
was able to see that the day was going to 
be one of his pleasant ones. No sooner 
was breakfast finished than his master 
whistled to him and started for the ga¬ 
rage. Being called to ride with Mr. Ab¬ 
bott was so unusual that Rusty hesitated, 
looking doubtfully at Betty. 

“ Go along,” she said. “ I’m coming in 
a minute. I’ve got to go to school while 
you and Daddy are having the best kind 
of a time.” 

Rusty knew what the first two words 
meant. He raced after Mr. Abbott to 
superintend backing out the car. By that 
time Betty had joined them. His cup of 
happiness was full to overflowing, for he 

182 


RUSTY MEETS PETER 


183 


could sit on Betty’s lap, hang half out of 
the window, and be talked to during the 
entire ride. 

The big building in front of which they 
stopped and into which Betty disappeared 
with other girls and boys did not look like 
the school at home which Rusty had at¬ 
tended many times with Betty and Jennie 
and Pauline. It was several days before 
he became satisfied that he was to miss 
Betty’s company a large part of each day, 
as he had done in their other home. 

He forgot his disappointment over los¬ 
ing Betty’s company as soon as they 
reached home, because Mr. Abbott, after 
putting up the ear, whistled to him to go 
with him on the promised walk around 
the lake. It had turned cool, and the walk 
of three miles was no hardship for either 
of them. 

“ Somewhere along here, Rusty, that 
Mr. Robbins who brought you home from 
your fishing expedition has a home,” Mr. 


184 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


Abbott said to the little dog as he started 
out, while Rusty darted here and there, 
but without getting far from him. “ He 
has a daughter about Betty’s age and a 
goat. In a day or two, after the girls be¬ 
come acquainted, you will have two more 
playmates, but how you will get along 
with a goat, or the goat with you, is more 
than I can guess.” 

“ Yip, yip! ” Rusty answered to tell his 
master that he could get along with any¬ 
thing that would play with him. 

Not far beyond where this conversation 
took place, an automobile overtook and 
passed them, and then was stopped with 
a great screeching of the brakes by the 
driver. He proved to be Mr. Robbins. 

“ I recognized Rusty,” he said as he 
backed his car to where Mr. Abbott was 
walking. “ I’m just getting back from 
taking Sally to school.” 

Mr. Abbott replied that he had carried 
Betty to school, and was now showing 


RUSTY MEETS PETER 


185 


Rusty the sights and getting some exer¬ 
cise. Rusty was too busy driving several 
snake birds that were twisting their necks 
into all sorts of shapes as they stood 
perched on stakes out in the water to hear 
the two men agree that hereafter only one 
would make the trip to school, taking both 
girls. 

But Rusty wasn’t too busy to notice 
Mr. Abbott open the door of the car. He 
was the first to get in. He didn’t know 
where he was going and it made no dif¬ 
ference to him. He couldn’t have been 
any keener had he heard the agreement to 
ride to the Robbins home and then all 
three continue the walk. 

When the car stopped and the two gen¬ 
tlemen got out in the yard, Rusty leaped 
over into the front seat and sat very 
straight, looking out through the wind¬ 
shield exactly as he did at home when 
James, the Abbott chauffeur, got out of 
the car. He was pretending that the ride 


186 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


was not over. But there was no goat at 
home to make him change his mind! 

Around the corner of the house there 
came trotting stiff-legged a white goat 
that stopped as soon as he caught sight of 
a stranger. “Yip, yip!” cried Rusty, 
jumping to the open window of the car 
and hanging perilously out. He would 
make him run. 

Usually when Rusty yipped at a cat or 
a rabbit, or a squirrel or a bird, it ran or 
flew. But this strange creature shook its 
head and chewed on a cud. 

Sure that the creature did not turn and 
run because he was cooped up in the car 
and could not chase him, Rusty cried to 
be released. He did not like the long 
jump to the ground from the window, and 
never attempted it unless absolutely nec¬ 
essary when there was no one to open the 
door for him and permit him to descend 
properly. 

“ Let him out,” said Mr. Robbins. 


RUSTY MEETS PETER 187 

“ I’ll guarantee he will not do Peter any 
damage.” 

So out popped Rusty to rush pell-mell 
at Peter. But he stopped short after a 
few jumps! Peter didn’t run! Instead, 
he stood there with a lowered head that 
looked to Rusty as if it had some sharp 
humps on it. 

“Woof!” challenged Rusty. 

But all the strange animal did was to 
paw the ground with one front hoof and 
shake his head threateningly. 

Three times in rapid succession Rusty 
woofed, but when he did, he was very 
careful to be braced, ready to run or to 
dodge if matters got too warm for him. 

But all that happened was that Peter 
trotted to the house, clattered up the 
steps, and turned around with lowered 
head. 

“ He’ll play with anything or anybody 
that will play with him,” Mr. Robbins ex¬ 
plained with a smile, “ but he has the idea 


188 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


that he must prevent any other animal 
from going up on the piazza.” 

Rusty slowly went as far as the bottom 
of the steps, where he stopped to consider 
what was best for him to do. He decided 
that anything but going up those steps 
just then was what he would do, so, with 
a parting woof, he trotted around to the 
rear of the house to investigate. And 
right behind him cantered Peter! 

By the time Mrs. Robbins, who had 
come to the door, had been introduced and 
her husband had exjidained that he was 
about to walk around the lake with Mr. 
Abbott, Rusty had run half a mile around 
the yard, stopping every little while to 
face the goat, which trotted after him. 

“Woof!” Rusty would say, meaning 
to stop following him. Peter would stop, 
lower his head, and wait for Rusty to 
start again. Rusty didn’t know that 
Peter wanted a playmate and was doing 
his best to play. 


RUSTY MEETS PETER 


189 


Finally, panting, the little spaniel 
dropped down at the feet of his master 
while Peter sampled a piece of paper he 
found in the yard. That reminded Rusty 
that Peter had apparently been eating 
something when he first saw him and, 
when Mrs. Robbins turned to enter the 
house, he jumped up to follow her, curi¬ 
ous as ever to know what the inside of 
this house looked like, and hopeful as 
usual of a bite of something to eat, al¬ 
though he had had his regular breakfast 
only an hour before. 

But he lost all interest in what the in¬ 
terior of the house looked like or in the 
possibility of a lunch when a furious clat¬ 
tering of hoofs made him turn. Peter 
had bounded up the steps, and with low¬ 
ered head was after Rusty in earnest. 

Quick as a flash, Rusty dodged and ran 
to the end of the piazza, where he turned 
at bay and harked, but without stopping 
the determined white animal that pursued 


190 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


him. He dodged out of the corner and 
down the steps to a safe retreat at his 
master’s heels. He did not mind in the 
least the laughter that greeted his move. 



HE ALLOWS NO DOGS NOR CATS ON 
THAT PIAZZA ” 


He was satisfied to have the goat remain 
at the top of the steps, contentedly chew¬ 
ing his cud. 

“ I told you,” Mr. Robbins said to 
Rusty, “ that Peter thinks those steps are 




















RUSTY MEETS PETER 


191 


for him to defend. He allows no dogs nor 
cats on that piazza.” 

“ Woof,” said Rusty, and willingly fol¬ 
lowed close at Mr. Abbott’s heels as they 
left for the walk around the lake. 

Except when an automobile ap¬ 
proached, Mr. Abbott paid no attention 
to the little dog, leaving him free to inves¬ 
tigate everything that interested him. 
That, in Rusty’s opinion, was the way to 
enjoy a walk. By running down to the 
college boathouse, where several girl stu¬ 
dents were eating a lunch, Rusty heard 
some pleasant things said about him and 
managed to beg a bite of a doughnut, 
which tasted especially nice because it was 
forbidden him at home. He didn’t mind 
the extra effort necessary to overtake the 
two men. 

He was trotting for a moment close be¬ 
hind them when he caught sight of a big 
ball rolling slowly across the close-cut 
grass of the club where several were en- 


192 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


joying lawn bowling. The lawn was close 
to the highway and unprotected by a 
fence, which made it easy for Rusty to 
give instant chase. 

Laughter from some of the party fol¬ 
lowed him, as did indignant commands 
from others: “Get away from there!” 
and “Here! Leave that alone!” They 
went unheeded, as did a peremptory 
whistle from his master. So intent was 
he on the rolling ball that he did not see 
the other balls clustered close together. 

He ran beside it, barking, whining, and 
pretending to bite it until the ball had 
almost stopped rolling. Satisfied that he 
was conquering it, he got in front of it, 
backing up with quick little jerks of his 
body until he backed against the other 
balls! Before he could escape the slowly 
moving ball had rolled against his front 
paws. What a yelp of fright he gave as 
he leaped to one side! 

It was then Rusty remembered that he 


RUSTY MEETS PETER 


193 


had been ordered to keep away by strange 
people, and that his master had called 
him. Whining, he ran to Mr. Abbott, sat 
up, and held out one paw for examina¬ 
tion. How he did want sympathy! And 
his master paid no attention to him! But 
one of the ladies gave him what he loved. 
She took the paw carefully in one hand, 
looked it over sympathetically, talking to 
him all the time, and showed that she 
knew dogs, for she skilfully dodged his 
attempted kiss. 

Mr. Abbott apologized for his dog’s 
action, and every one was good-natured 
about it. Several seemed to think it was 
a very good joke but whether on the man 
who had rolled the ball, or on Rusty, or on 
both was not exactly clear. By the time 
they had finished a brief chat and Mr. 
Robbins and Mr. Abbott had promised to 
try their hands at the game on some other 
day, Rusty had forgotten all about his 
pinched paws. But he ran after no more 


194 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


balls, remaining in a safe place close to 
his master’s heels. 

He trotted very soberly the remaining 
distance to their home without showing 
any signs of suffering. But when he got 
into the house he remembered how unsym¬ 
pathetic his master had been. He went 
directly to his big mistress, sat up before 
her, a distressed, pained look in his eyes, 
and held out a paw for her to look over. 

“ I don’t see anything very serious the 
matter, Rusty,” she said as she examined 
it. “ There is no cut, and I don’t see a 
sliver. What could have happened to you 
while taking a walk? ” 

She looked at her husband for an ex¬ 
planation. 

“ You see,” he said, looking severely at 
Rusty, “ he did not stay with me, but 
rushed down on the lawn of the club house 
and spoiled their game. Had he behaved 
himself, he would not have had his foot 
pinched. If he had minded when I whis- 


RUSTY MEETS PETER 


195 


tied, he wouldn’t have been frightened. I 
don’t know what should be done to punish 
him.” 

The tone of voice told Rusty that he 
was being scolded. He tried hard to pay 
no attention, but every time he looked at 
his master, those eyes were staring hard 
at him and his mistress said sorrowfully, 
“ Oh, Rusty! How could you do such a 
thing? ” 

It was very trying for a little dog to sit 
there and be scolded. With one more 
glance at each of them to see whether he 
was forgiven, but finding no sympathy, he 
yawned elaborately and carefully limped 
into the bedroom, turned around three 
times on his own special blanket, sighed 
a deep sigh, and forgot the scolding in 
sleep. But as he disappeared into the 
bedroom he thought it very unkind of his 
master to laugh so loudly. If he had been 
hurt, Rusty would not have laughed at 
him. 


196 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


“ That dog is a master at pretending,” 
was the last thing he heard his master say 
before he slipped into a dream of battling 
for his life with a great big animal, and 
of being chased by a big round thing that 
tried to run over him. 

“ One thing is certain,” Mr. Abbott 
said at the luncheon table that noon, as 
Rusty, still a little sleepy and forgetting 
to limp after his nap, came slowly into the 
dining-room, “ if that dog were on his 
very last legs and some one half a mile 
away was cooking something, he would 
manage to drag himself there.” 

Mrs. Abbott reminded him that some 
men were very much like dogs when it be¬ 
came almost time for another meal. She 
had known one, she said, who quite often 
was looking for something to eat long be¬ 
fore it was meal time. 

Betty’s chair was in its usual place, but 
Betty was not there. That was a situa¬ 
tion that had occurred only once or twice 


RUSTY MEETS PETER 197 

since Rusty had joined the family circle. 
Betty was at home every noon from her 
school in the North. Quite naturally, 
Rusty was unable to understand why she 
was absent from the table. 

He jumped up on their chair and sor¬ 
rowfully looked from one to the other of 
his family. He licked his jaws, moved his 
forefeet, whined very softly, and even 
spoke very softly, all without attracting 
any attention to the fact that he was at 
the table and was not receiving anything 
to eat. 

Perhaps Betty didn’t know that the 
meal was ready! That bright thought 
sent him scurrying into the bedroom, and 
then to look out through the front screen 
door. There he gave two quick barks, but 
Betty did not answer. 

Back to the dining-room he trotted but, 
instead of taking his usual place on 
Betty’s chair, he sat down beside Mr. Ab¬ 
bott. He was in hope that he had been 


198 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


forgiven. Very soon a sizable piece of 
meat dangled directly in front of his nose. 

“ Arthur Abbott! ” his wife exclaimed. 
“ I saw you! I remember how you issued 
orders when Rusty came to us that no¬ 
body was to feed him at the table except 
what morsels Betty gave him.” 

Mr. Abbott grinned sheepishly. “ This 
isn’t home, you know, so I thought it 
would be all right just this once.” 

Rusty was surprised to see the severe 
look his mistress gave his master. Rusty’s 
idol was being scolded! It was just such 
a look he had received when they were 
finding fault with him. He didn’t know 
the reason for it, but his sympathy was 
needed. He stood up and kissed the hand 
that had dangled the meat in front of him 
before lying down close against his mas¬ 
ter’s feet, without even hinting that he 
would like another bite. He was sure that 
he would have received one had he risked 
further scolding of his master. 


CHAPTER XI 


RUSTY IS SATISFIED 

Before the end of another week, con¬ 
ditions were much more satisfactory to 
Rusty than they had been. This was due 
to the chance meeting of his master and 
Mr. Robbins on the morning they had 
taken the first of several walks around the 
lake. The two men had struck up a 
friendship, and Betty and Sally, to say 
nothing of Mrs. Abbott and Mrs. Rob¬ 
bins, had met and enjoyed each other’s 
company. Betty and Sally, both 
strangers in Lakeland and living so near 
to each other, were together almost every 
minute when not in school. On the days 
that Mr. Robbins drove the girls to 
school, Rusty was a welcome passenger 
in his car, taking it as a matter of course 

199 


200 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


that he should ride in any car in which he 
found his little mistress. 

With the girls to play with and Peter, 
the goat, to threaten until he pretended to 
fight; with Flossie to coax away from her 
mother, and the rabbit to chase almost 
every day, Rusty had no more time for 
blue days. Although he saw his fisher¬ 
man friend almost every day as they 
drove to or from school, there was now so 
much to do at home or at the Robbins’ 
home that he gave no thought to fishing. 
He was just as busy now as he ever had 
been at home in the North, for besides 
Betty and her playmate and Mrs. Abbott, 
he now had Mr. Abbott on his mind to 
amuse whenever he had a spare minute, 
and he just had to visit Mr. Travers every 
day, if for only a minute or two. 

One day he followed his master to the 
rear of the big grove when he went down 
to talk with Mr. Travers, who was work¬ 
ing there, and he received one of the big 


RUSTY IS SATISFIED 


201 


surprises of his life. Up at camp he had 
seen and been scolded by several grey 
squirrels, and chipmunks had flirted their 
tails at him and disappeared in stone 
walls. One squirrel and one chipmunk at 
camp had been so friendly that they would 
take food left for them on the piazza—if 
Rusty were not around. But he had never 
seen a squirrel that lived inside a man’s 
coat! 

Their progress down through the grove 
had been very slow. It had been impor¬ 
tant to stop at the brush pile and try to 
coax his master to drive out a brown rab¬ 
bit for a little fun. He had pretended to 
look for fresh eggs, but that had just been 
to fool his master, for Rusty did not once 
look where he knew they might be found. 
They were going somewhere and, al¬ 
though Rusty had no idea where, he 
didn’t intend to be obliged to carry an egg 
there in his mouth. 

Before they reached the end of the 



202 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


grove, Rusty could hear the sound of an 
axe where Mr. Travers was cleaning out 
some old growth near the edge of some 
marsh-land. That was a new sound to 
him, so he kept very close to his master. 
When they came within sight of Mr. 
Travers, he had stopped to rest and was 
wiping his face. 

He saw them coming, waved his hand 
in greeting, and quickly picked up his coat 
and slowly and carefully put it on. Mr. 
Abbott noticed what Rusty did not; that 
Mr. Travers was very careful how he 
handled the coat and was very much inter¬ 
ested in one of the pockets as he slowly 
put his arms into the armholes. 

Now that the noise he didn’t know 
about had stopped, Rusty raced ahead 
with joyous little barks of greeting to this 
friend who frequently invited him into his 
rooms down at the garage, and who 
played with him a little and talked to him 
a great deal when both of them happened 


RUSTY IS SATISFIED 


203 


to have a minute to spare from other 
duties. 

“ Hello, Rusty,” Mr. Travers greeted 
him. “ Be careful now, and don’t frighten 
my little friend here in my pocket.” 



POPPED HIS HEAD OUT 


The little dog stopped, cocked his head 
to one side, and waited, while his tail 
asked just what it was that he was being 
warned to be careful about. 




204 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


Just as if a certain grey squirrel had 
understood everything that was going on, 
one suddenly popped his head out from 
one of the many pockets of Mr. Travers’s 
coat and told Rusty in so many words that 
he had thought a squirrel might have a 
friend away down there at the rear of the 
grove without being bothered by a dog. 

Having delivered his opinion very 
quickly, he disappeared within the coat 
again with a whisk of his body that was so 
quick Rusty could not tell whether he had 
turned around and gone in head first, or 
whether he had just slid down backwards. 

And before Rusty could get over his 
surprise and say something in reply, his 
master had picked him up in his arms, 
much to the disgust of the dog. He 
whined a little and showed in every way 
he could that he had no intention of harm¬ 
ing the squirrel, but merely wanted him 
to come out from the protection of a 
man’s coat so he could be chased up a tree. 


RUSTY IS SATISFIED 


205 


Then Rusty would dare him to come 
down, and the squirrel would twit him 
about not being able to climb a tree, even 
such a low one as an orange or a grape¬ 
fruit tree. 

“ I made friends with him some months 
ago,” Mr. Travers explained. “ Now I 
never come down here without some nuts 
in my coat pocket, and I’m never here 
more than a few minutes before I hear 
him chattering at me. I tell him the nuts 
are in my pocket, and in a few more min¬ 
utes he musters up courage to come and 
crawl into the pocket and eat them. 
Sometimes he goes off with one to store 
away, but he is back again in a few min¬ 
utes. 

“ Just now was the first time I ever 
picked up my coat with him in the pocket, 
and I didn’t want to frighten him. Of 
course when I bring my lunch down here, 
as I do sometimes, he climbs all over me 
and goes into the pocket while I am wear- 


206 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


ing my coat, so he knew what it felt like 
to have me with the coat on, but not while 
putting it on.” 

While Mr. Travers was telling the 
story of his little friend, he was watching 
him closely, for the squirrel was fright¬ 
ened by the presence of Rusty, because no 
dog could keep quiet under such circum¬ 
stances. 

As it was nearly noon and as Mr. 
Travers had not carried his lunch, he said 
that he would walk back with Mr. Abbott 
and Rusty. He went to the nearest tree, 
opened his coat, and in an instant the 
squirrel had flashed from his pocket and 
with a twitch of his tail and some rather 
saucy language had climbed to the very 
top. From that safe place, he stuck his 
head around the trunk and dared Rusty 
to do anything. 

Once more on the ground where he 
could run, Rusty rushed to the tree and, 
just as was his custom in the North while 


RUSTY IS SATISFIED 


207 


at camp, dared the squirrel to come down 
where they could have the fun of a chase. 

They were still arguing, when the per¬ 
emptory whistle of his master sounded, 
and with a parting bark Rusty raced after 
the two men. Tie decided that when there 
was nothing better to do he could run 
down to the end of the grove and worry 
that squirrel and, perhaps, Mr. Travers 
would have a bite of something for him 
to eat. Rusty never planned anything 
without the hope that there would be 
something for him to eat. 

It was that evening at dinner that 
Betty became very much excited, clap¬ 
ping her hands and exclaiming, “ Goody! 
Goody! ” then giving Rusty one of those 
sudden hugs and kisses that always told 
him that his little mistress was delighted 
with something he did not know about, 
but which he was sure meant fun for him. 

The word “ circus ” was used freety, 
and lots of other words that Rusty never 


208 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


had heard before, but whatever was being 
discussed, he was ready to enjoy, and said 
so very promptly. 

“ Nothing doing,” said Mr. Abbott em¬ 
phatically. “ This is one place, Rusty, 
where you are not going.” 

“ Oh, Daddy,” protested Betty. “ It 
will be so instructive for him. He will see 
lots of animals he never saw before.” 

“ His education must be neglected 
then,” replied her father. “ With you and 
Sally to keep an eye on, to say nothing of 
seeing that your mother doesn’t try to pet 
the leopards and tigers, I shall have 
enough trouble without hanging on to 
that dog.” 

Betty’s arms stole around Rusty, and 
he knew from her manner of hugging him 
and from the suspicion of tears in her 
eyes that for some reason he was to be left 
out of whatever fun was being planned. 
He couldn’t resist kissing her. He could 
see that she felt very badly about some- 


RUSTY IS SATISFIED 


209 


thing, and he was sure he was that some¬ 
thing. 

“ It sounds as if you had ‘ put your 
foot down ’ once more,’’ Betty’s mother 
observed. “ I would take it up again if 
I were you. I promise not to worry you 
by petting leopards, tigers, or lions and I 
will make myself responsible for Rusty. 
Y r our enjoyment of the circus will not be 
handicapped in the least if he goes along 
with the girls.” 

“ They’ll want to take the goat next,” 
Mr. Abbott grumbled. “ This family has 
as big a menagerie as any circus, if we 
had them all in one place.” 

“We don’t want to take Peter,” Betty 
explained. “ But Sally will feel as badly 
as I do if Rusty can’t go.” 

“ That settles it, of course,” Mr. Ab¬ 
bott said with a sigh of resignation. “ If 
Sally Robbins is going to be disappointed, 
there is nothing an Abbott can do but 
yield. Nobody ever thinks how disap- 


210 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


pointed I can get to be when, instead of 
being given a chance to see a circus, I’ve 
got to sit outside and keep an eye and 
both hands on that black bunch of wig¬ 
gling curiosity. They will never let us in 
to see the circus with a dog.” 

“ I hadn’t thought of that,” Mrs. Ab¬ 
bott admitted. “ If that is so, it might be 
better to leave Rusty here with Eliza. 
No. I can’t do that, for I promised her 
to have to-morrow off duty because a 
cousin of hers is to be married. And Mr. 
Travers is to be away over the week-end. 
Rusty must go, and I’ll agree to take care 
of him. I don’t care about the circus, anv- 
way. I’ll drive around and see Winter 
Haven. They say it is a very interesting 
place.” 

“ But I want Mother to see the circus,” 
Betty said. “ If they will let Rusty into 
the circus, and I don’t see why they 
shouldn’t, I’ll take care of him.” 

“ With every one but me volunteering 


RUSTY IS SATISFIED 


211 


to be a nurse for that nuisance of a dog, 
I’m not going to be left out in the cold, 
so I’ll take care of him myself.” Mr. Ab¬ 
bott was very emphatic. 

“ That will be very nice,” his wife said 
with a knowing smile. 

“ I thought you would enjoy the sug¬ 
gestion,” Mr. Abbott retorted. “ But I 
tell you now, Mr. Dog,” he said address¬ 
ing Rusty and shaking a finger at him, 
“ you’ll come pretty near doing what you 
are told to do to-morrow.” 

Rusty’s eyes shifted from Mr. Abbott’s 
threatening gesture to take a quick look 
at Betty. He received his usual reward 
of a hug and a kiss, with assurance that 
everything was all arranged and that he 
was to go where he would see elephants 
and lions and tigers and all kinds of 
strange animals. 

It was after they had gone to bed that 
confided to Rusty that they were to 
drive to Winter Haven to see the big cit- 



212 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


rus show and to attend the circus that was 
there every year at that time. 

But what Betty didn’t know, which 
kept it a secret also from Rusty, for what¬ 
ever Betty knew, Rusty was told, was that 
the Robbinses were taking their car also, 
and that they all were to stop at the 
Brackley home with some playthings for 
the children that both families were con¬ 
tributing, for Mrs. Abbott had told the 
story of their stop when they had the flat 
tire. She had also been shopping, and had 
purchased some pretty playthings. 

Late that evening Mr. Abbott had an 
idea. 

“ There would be room,” he said as if 
to himself, “ to take along several of the 
Brackley youngsters.” 

“ Arthur Abbott, what a glorious 
thought! ” his wife exclaimed. 

But Betty and 
not know about that, because they were all 
asleep. 


and Sally could 


CHAPTER XII 


RUSTY GOES TO THE CIRCUS 

When Betty awakened bright and 
early the next morning, Rusty was still 
sound asleep. He had learned to ignore 
the morning song of the mocking bird. 
For a dog that was busy all day, it was 
too early to get up when the birds started 
their day. Birds went to bed with the 
sun, but Rusty had several hours of the 
evening in which he worked—if there was 
anything he could find to do. 

For a few minutes Betty remained 
quiet, trying to remember what it was 
that was to mark the day. Then she re¬ 
membered. Circus! 

“ Come on, Rusty,” she called. “ Time 
to get up and get ready, for we’re-” 

“ Wait a minute. Wait—a—minute,” 

213 




214 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


came from the other room in her father’s 
deep voice. “ That dog will have excite¬ 
ment enough to-day without your start¬ 
ing him off at daylight.” 

“Aren’t we going to start early?” 
Betty asked. “ I thought because it was 
so far that we would go very early, be¬ 
cause there will be so much to see before 
we go to the circus. Aren’t we going 
early, Daddy? ” 

“ We are going to have breakfast first, 
anyway,” her father answered. “ It’s not 
breakfast time yet for an hour, and it is 
a pity to get that dog so worked up that 
we shall not be able to move without hav¬ 
ing him underfoot. It’s a wonder that I 
haven’t broken half a dozen legs a dozen 
times by falling over him whenever we 
plan to go anywhere! ” 

This calling back and forth after 
Betty’s excited order to him to “ come 
on ” started Rusty about the business of 
the day, knowing as he did that it was 


RUSTY GOES TO THE CIRCUS 215 


something unusual. He leaped from 
Betty’s bed, galloped into the other bed¬ 
room, and leaped on to the bed of his mas¬ 
ter, where he tried to kiss him. 

When his master ducked under the bed¬ 
clothes, it was a signal that he was willing 
to play; to be dug out by an eager little 
dog in spite of his protests that he didn’t 
wish to get up an hour before breakfast, 
especially on a day when he must miss 
going to the circus, just to take care of a 
black dog that was a nuisance. 

But Mr. Abbott did get up almost an 
hour before Eliza could be expected to 
have breakfast ready to serve. He pre¬ 
tended to be very cross about losing that 
extra hour in bed, and grumbled every 
time Rusty was anywhere near him. But 
his grumbling wasn’t in the tone of voice 
that disturbed Rusty. He knew his mas¬ 
ter was pretending to be out of patience 
with him, but that he really had had a 
good time being dug out of bed. 


216 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


After a good deal of running back and 
forth between the two bedrooms, Rusty 
managed to get all three members of his 
family out of bed. Once he had seen them 
up, he was satisfied, and rushed to the 
kitchen to hurry Eliza. What was going 
to happen to him, Rusty didn’t know but, 
like any intelligent dog, he had caught 
from Betty’s manner and the excitement 
in her voice that something out of the or¬ 
dinary was to take place. He was in a 
hurry to learn what it was. 

“ Whafo’ you rushin’ ’round lak dat? ” 
Eliza demanded after he had leaped up 
on her with little excited barks. 

“ I’d mos’ think you was gwine hab a 
weddin’ in yo’ fambly, like I is,” she said. 
“ Go long now an’ lemme get de break¬ 
fast. Go get de milk down to de gate. 
Hurry up, now.” 

A minute later Rusty was running to 
the gate, Betty skipping along behind him 
for she was just as excited as the dog, 


RUSTY GOES TO THE CIRCUS 217 


although she tried to conceal her excite¬ 
ment a little, and Rusty didn’t. 

Breakfast was rather sketchy for both 
Betty and Rusty in spite of threats by 
Betty’s father that they would not budge 
a step until they had eaten a hearty meal. 
Excitement, however, was too much for 
appetites, and the start was made with the 
certainty that both Betty and Rusty 
would be very hungry before luncheon. 

“ Now we will go and get Sally,” said 
Betty happily, as the car turned out of 
the yard. Rusty was on her lap. He 
turned his head for a hasty kiss to tell her 
that he understood and that it was all 
right with him, if they didn’t lose too 
much time. “ She will be ready and wait¬ 
ing for us,” Betty continued, “ and we are 
going to have just the greatest time in the 
world! ” 

Sally ran to the car to greet Betty and 
Rusty, speaking to Mr. and Mrs. Abbott 
as well, although that was just because 


218 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


she had been brought up to be polite to 
her elders. Really, she hardly saw them. 

“ Isn’t it great that Daddy and Mother 
are going, too? ” Sally cried. 44 We are 
going to take both cars, because Daddy 
says it would be no fun to crowd into one. 
There would be four grown-ups and you 
and me and Rusty. Besides there are 
packages, and neither Daddy nor Mother 
will tell what’s in them! I don’t think 
that’s fair.” 

That reminded Betty that some mys¬ 
terious packages were in the back of their 
car that had been placed there when she 
was not looking. 

“We have some packages, too,” she 
said. “ What are they, Daddy? ” 

“ Lunch for you and Rusty,” her father 
answered, winking very slowly at Sally. 

“ He’s fooling. He winked at me,” 
Sally giggled. “Let’s peek!” 

But they didn’t have time to peek, for 
Mrs. Abbott was getting out of their car 


RUSTY GOES TO THE CIRCUS 219 


to ride with Mrs. Robbins while Mr. Ab¬ 
bott drove Betty and Sally and Rusty. 

After much calling back and forth to 
make sure that both drivers understood 
exactly where they were to go, they got 
started. Sally had been to Winter Haven 
once before, so that when Mr. Abbott 
turned off from the direct road at a cor¬ 
ner she exclaimed that he was going the 
wrong way. 

“ This is a nice road, too,” Mr. Abbott 
explained. “ Your father and I thought 
we would go this way, and perhaps we 
shall come back over the road you know.” 

That satisfied Sally. Betty paid no at¬ 
tention. She was thinking about the cir¬ 
cus and not the road. Rusty, hanging 
half out of the window with Betty holding 
to the leash, gave his full attention to any¬ 
thing alive that he could see. 

They had been driving rapidly for a 
long time when Betty recognized an old 
tumble-down chapel which had attracted 


220 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


her attention the day they had stopped at 
the Brackley house. 

“ Daddy,” she called, “ we are going on 
the same road we did that day we stopped 
and had the fun with the little pig, and 
ate that supper where all the children 
were! ” 

“I do believe we are,” her father 
answered. “ I hope we don’t get another 
puncture or the engine may decide not to 
start again, as it did that time. We should 
be late for the circus then.” 

“ We could all crowd into our car,” said 
Sally. “ Both of them would not break 
down at the same time.” 

Mr. Abbott chuckled at Sally’s prac¬ 
tical remark, and agreed that if misfor¬ 
tune should overtake them, Sally had hit 
on the way to overcome it. In another 
minute he had blown his horn and slowed 
to a stop in front of the cabin in which 
the Brackley family lived. Mr. Robbins 
pulled up directly behind him. 


RUSTY GOES TO THE CIRCUS 221 


“ Go and see if the rest of the party is 
ready, Betty,” her father said. “ Rusty, 
stop that barking. The pig is not coming 
out of the house this morning!” Rusty 
had recognized the house, and was using 
every effort to get out of the automobile, 
even at the risk of the long jump from the 
window to the ground. 

“ What do you mean, Daddy? ” Betty 
asked in astonishment. 

“ Never mind. Here come some of the 
children,” he answered. “ Hello, children. 
Go tell your mother you are going to the 
circus with us! ” 

Four children stood and stared. Such 
an invitation they had never received be¬ 
fore. They were not certain that they had 
heard correctly. 

Just then their fox terrier came bound¬ 
ing from the house with yelps of excite¬ 
ment. Rusty, with one extra strong tug, 
yanked the leash from Betty’s hand and 
went head over heels out of the window. 


222 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


Harry, the boy who had ridden for the 
mechanic on the occasion of their first 
visit, quick as a flash caught the end of 
the strap. Rusty came to a sudden stop. 

“ Cain’t he run? ” Harry asked. 

“ Yes. Unfasten it,” responded Mr. 
Abbott. “We are going to stop a min¬ 
ute, anyway.” 

Freed from the leash, Rusty and the 
terrier disappeared in a dash around the 
corner of the cabin, both barking at the 
top of their voices in their play. 

Mrs. Robbins and Mrs. Abbott had 
alighted from the other automobile, and 
while all this had been going on had 
walked to the cabin to the door of which 
Mrs. Brackley had been attracted from 
her kitchen by the sounds of excitement. 
Once the children had understood that 
they were really going to the circus, there 
had been plenty of noise. 

Betty and Sally were so surprised at 
the unexpected stop and the invitation to 


RUSTY GOES TO THE CIRCUS 223 


the Brackley family that they had not said 
much. They really didn’t understand 
what it was all about until Mr. Abbott 
and Mr. Robbins began to hand out the 
mysterious packages from the cars. 

Then Betty knew! They were play¬ 
things for the children! She had been so 
shocked by the few makeshift toys they 
had shown her as their choicest posses¬ 
sions that she had cried a little when talk¬ 
ing about them to her mother before she 
fell asleep on the way home. She reached 
over and gave her father a big hug. 

“ Oh, quit choking me,” he laughed. 
“ How do you suppose I’m going to drive 
this car to the circus if you shut off my 
wind? Oh, all right. All right. I’m glad 
you are pleased. That makes all of us.” 

The children were beside themselves 
with joy. What an orgy of unwrapping 
paper there was! What cries of delight 
at a big doll, at a small doll, a toy air¬ 
plane, a puzzle, some books with pictures! 


224 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


In the doorway, tears in her eyes, was 
Mrs. Brackley watching her children and 
trying to find words to express her thanks 
for them. 

It was just then that around the corner 
of the cabin came the procession of the fat 
little snow-white pig, the terrier, and 
Rusty, all in full cry. The pig dodged 
quickly, and somehow managed to get 
into the front door. 

Rusty, the instant he saw the papers 
and playthings and heard the excited 
voices of the children, lost all interest in 
the little pig. He dashed for the group. 
In another instant he had snatched up a 
big rag doll and tried to leap into the open 
door of the Abbott car. But the load was 
too heavy. 

Belle Brackley, who had laid it down 
for a moment to admire some other gift, 
gave a cry of dismay and ran for Rusty. 
He had dropped the doll to investigate 
one of his own legs that he had bumped 


RUSTY GOES TO THE CIRCUS 225 

against the running-board when he at¬ 
tempted to get into the car. 

The child snatched up her xloll and ran 
back to the others to be sure that some¬ 
thing else had not been taken from her in 
her brief absence. 

Rusty followed, and when Bill, the ter¬ 
rier, came racing down, snatching at 
paper wrappings and anything else lying 
on the ground, Rusty chased after him. 
But he stopped when he heard Mrs. 
Brackley calling the children. Perhaps 
they were going to have something to eat! 

He trotted up to her, but as she paid 
no attention to him and he could see that 
there were tears in her eyes, he sat up and 
offered her his sympathy. 

But she was busy watching the children 
and marshalling them into the house. 
Rusty went in, too. No one paid the 
slightest attention to him, so he went in 
search of food. It had been more than 
two hours since he had eaten a hurried 


226 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


breakfast. Hungry was no name for his 
condition. 

Never in his life had he been in the cen¬ 
ter of so much confusion! Every one was 
talking at the top of his or her voice and 
rushing here and there. Three times he 
was stepped on and yelped, but no one 
had time to give him a pat and say he was 
sorry. 

Even his big mistress and Mrs. Rob¬ 
bins, seated quietly at one side of the 
room, did not seem to care what happened 
to him. When Mrs. Brackley called two 
of her children into the kitchen, Rusty 
had renewed hopes of food and hurried 
after them. But he didn’t stay! There 
was too much water and too much scrub¬ 
bing going on! He feared that some one 
might decide that he needed a bath, and 
he was far too busy to spare time for one. 

Suddenly he remembered Betty. He 
ran from the cabin, where he found her 
seated on the steps with Sally, each with 


RUSTY GOES TO THE CIRCUS 227 


one of the very youngest Brackley chil¬ 
dren on her lap showing them pictures. 
The girls told him to run and play with 
the pig. 

Just then Bill came from somewhere, 
dragging after him by one leg a rag doll. 
Everybody seemed to see him at the same 
time, including Rusty. Mr. Abbott and 
Mr. Robbins both shouted at him, and 
Betty and Sally called to him to drop it. 
But he didn’t. Fox terriers do not drop 
anything when there is a chance to shake 
or tear it to pieces. 

So Rusty went to the rescue. He 
caught up with Bill and tried to take 
away the doll by grabbing a dangling 
arm. It was a tug of war, with both dogs 
growling, tugging and trying to shake the 
poor doll, which gave Mr. Robbins a 
chance to get hold of the doll with one 
hand and Bill with the other. Mr. Ab¬ 
bott, laughing so hard he could not hurry, 
finally got a grip on Rusty, and between 




228 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


them they managed to save the doll from 
destruction. 

“ I guess that’s enough for this morn¬ 
ing,” he said as he picked up Rusty. 



RUSTY WENT TO THE RESCUE 


“ We shall be ready to go in a few minutes 
and everybody but me seems to be too 
busy to keep an eye and a pair of hands 
on you. We’ll go and sit in the car.” 

Protesting, squirming, whining, and 
barking, Rusty went to jail in the auto¬ 
mobile. But it wasn’t very bad, for his 





RUSTY GOES TO THE CIRCUS 229 


master remained with him, talking to Mr. 
Robbins, who stood at the open window. 

In a few minutes the crowd in the little 
cabin came trooping to the cars, Mrs. 
Brackley, a child on each arm, with them, 
and trying to tell every one what a won¬ 
derful treat the circus would be for her 
children. 

Harry and Belle and Mary Ann, the 
three oldest, were to go. They had been 
scrubbed until their faces shone, and all 
three walked as if their feet hurt because 
they had on shoes and stockings for the 
first time in many days. They were so 
happy and excited that they didn’t mind 
the discomfort. 

Mary Ann, who found it hard to leave 
behind her new doll even for a few hours, 
got in with Sally and Betty, while Harry 
rode in front with Mr. Abbott. Belle 
rode with Mr. Robbins. They were off 
for a glorious day of excitement and some 
surprises, as any one could tell from the 


230 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


insistent barking of Rusty while they were 
getting ready to start. He wanted the 
procession to get under way, for he knew 
bigger things were to be done somewhere. 
Betty had promised, and Betty’s prom¬ 
ises, he knew, were always kept. 


CHAPTER XIII 


RUSTY AND THE ELEPHANT 

Rusty divided his time on the ride to 
Winter Haven, where no one but Sally in 
Mr. Abbott’s automobile had ever been, 
between sitting on Harry’s knees staring 
out through the windshield and on the 
laps of the three girls on the rear seat. 
Harry knew about dogs, Rusty discov¬ 
ered, and he liked boys who knew dogs. 

Harry, who was thirteen and large for 
his age, had ridden in an automobile be¬ 
fore, but never in one so roomv and fine 
as the one in which he was seated. Mr. 
Abbott, when he saw that Harry was in¬ 
terested in the various indicators, ex¬ 
plained them to him, slowing down the car 
a little to lean over and point out each one 
and explain its function. 

231 


232 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


Rusty objected to that. It might make 
them late. The moment the machine 
slowed on a straight road he spoke about 
it. And Harry knew what he meant. 

“ Don’ you be too hasty, Rusty,” he 
cautioned. “ This yere car’ll git us there 
in time. I’m jes’ learnin’ suthin’ ’cause 
I’m a-goin’ to have one some day.” 

Mr. Abbott gave the boy a quick glance 
of approval, but said nothing. He was 
glad he had brought the children with 
them. Betty and Sally were just as 
pleased to have Mary Ann riding with 
them. She knew about the flowers and 
herbs that grew in the edge of the swamp, 
and where the birds built their nests. But 
Mary Ann had never ridden in an auto¬ 
mobile before, and had never been far 
from home. She found it hard to talk 
when there was so much to see and they 
moved so swiftly. 

At last they reached the outskirts of 
Winter Haven and even Rusty didn’t 


RUSTY AND THE ELEPHANT 233 


urge Mr. Abbott to drive faster, although 
he did lean out of the window with 
Harry’s strong hand on his collar and 
make rather provoking remarks at each 
automobile that Mr. Abbott was able to 
pass. It sounded very much as if Rusty 
jeered at them as they dropped be¬ 
hind. 

Ahead of them they could see the main 
street, lined with booths gay with flags 
and bunting floating in the gentle breeze. 
And far ahead of them at the other end 
of the street, were the tops of the circus 
tents. Betty pointed them out to Mary 
Ann and to Sally. Rusty, thinking she 
was telling him something, barked his 
approval. 

Mr. Abbott turned off from the main 
street, followed by Mr. Robbins, and they 
parked at one side of a wide street on 
which there was little travel. In another 
minute every one, including Rusty held 
firmly on his leash by Harry but strug- 


234 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


gling to go in half a dozen directions at 
once, was on the sidewalk. 

The cars were carefully locked. It was 
not yet lunch time, although Rusty, as 
usual, was very hungry. The party 
started for the main street, and in a few 
minutes were all a part of the gay throng 
that was admiring the brilliant, colorful 
display of grapefruit, oranges of many 
varieties and shades of color, the dull red 
of the tangerines, and the little kumquats, 
those little plum-sized oranges. 

The booths didn’t interest Rusty at all. 
To tell the truth, Betty, Sally, Mary Ann 
and Harry, after looking at the displays 
in one or two of the booths, had seen 
enough. All of them saw so much fruit 
and ate so much that just because it was 
prettily arranged held no appeal for them. 
Their eyes wandered toward the circus 
tents, but it was too early to go there. 

Betty had forgotten that she had been 
willing to take all the care of Rusty if he 


RUSTY AND THE ELEPHANT 235 


were permitted to be with them. She only 
occasionally looked to make sure that he 
was safe on the end of his leash. They 
wandered down one side of the long street, 
pausing here and there at a booth, but 
Mr. Abbott knew that the younger mem¬ 
bers of the party wanted to see something 
more exciting. 

It Avas quickly arranged that the two 
ladies should inspect the booths to their 
hearts' content while the tAA^o gentlemen 
with the children sought more interesting 
things to see, and that they all would meet 
at the cars and have lunch. Led by 
Rusty, tugging at his leash, the children 
headed for the lower end of the street 
AA^here the circus beckoned both young and 
old. 

Mary Ann and Belle had been accepted 
by Betty and Sally as comrades, and the 
four girls, arm in arm, Mary Ann Avith 
Betty, hurried along behind Harry, A\ho 
was holding tight to Rusty. Mr. Abbott 


236 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


had offered to relieve him of the care of 
the dog but Harry had declined. 

“ I like to have a dog with me,” he said 
simply. 

They had almost reached the circus 
ground when they heard the music of a 
circus band. In another minute the pa¬ 
rade came into sight, with the musicians 
in gay uniforms perched on top of a high 
wagon that was drawn by six large grey 
horses. 

The two men placed the children at the 
edge of the passageway left in the street 
between the booths. Even though Betty 
and Sally had seen a circus parade before, 
they were nearly as excited as the other 
children, to whom the occasion was the 
biggest event in their lives. Harry tried 
to hide his excitement by talking to Rusty, 
but his eyes he kept turned to the ap¬ 
proaching circus wagon. 

Rusty, who never howled when his big 
mistress played the piano, not even when 


RUSTY AND THE ELEPHANT 237 


Betty practised, or at music over the 
radio, barked furiously at the noisy band, 
and then sat down and howled. 

So busy was Rusty at his job of howl¬ 
ing in disapproval of the quality of music 
provided by the band that he failed to see 
or to smell the big elephant that was noise¬ 
lessly walking behind the band wagon, 
the animal’s long trunk swinging from 
side to side, with that delicate finger in the 
end ready to pick up anything the ele¬ 
phant wanted. The trainer walked just 
ahead. 

When the band came to the end of the 
piece, the music stopped. Rusty ended 
his howling. It was then he caught sight 
of the huge animal! He braced himself 
and bravely barked to show that he was 
there to protect those he loved. The trunk 
swung toward him and from the end, al¬ 
most in Rusty’s face, came a tremendous 
snort and blast of air! 

Everybody jumped. But their little 


238 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


jumps were nothing compared to what 
Rusty managed without trying. He went 
into the air and turned a complete back 



HE TURNED A COMPLETE BACK SOMERSAULT 


somersault, but whether, Mr. Robbins 
said afterwards, he was blown there or his 
fright helped some, no one could tell. 
Rusty landed on his feet, made one 




RUSTY AND THE ELEPHANT 239 


wild lunge that snapped the buckle of his 
leash and he was off as fast as he could 
run. He dodged behind the nearest booth 
and there, still frightened out of his wits, 
he was accidentally kicked by a running 
child who was trying to get where he could 
see the parade. Rusty yelped with pain 
but didn’t stop. All he was trying to do 
was to get out of the crowd, away from 
that horrid noise and far away from that 
huge animal that had blown him right 
into the air. 

Accustomed as Harry Brackley was to 
making his way quickly through brush, he 
failed to catch Rusty, because the little 
dog managed to dodge between legs with 
surprising speed. Above the noise of the 
band, which was playing another tune, 
and the rattle and bang of a drum corps 
not far behind, it is doubtful if the little 
dog could have heard the frantic calls of 
Betty or the sharp whistle of his master. 
He was deaf to everything but the noise 


240 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


that had frightened him, and he connected 
the band with the elephant and his being 
blown into the air. All he wanted was to 
find some place of safety. 

When at last he heard the band no 
more, he stopped running. No friendly 
person was in sight. Everything was 
strange. Now he was lost! Eagerly he 
sought for a scent of Betty or Mr. Abbott, 
but they had not been in that vicinity. 

He saw water in a bird bath on a lawn, 
and there he had a long drink which he 
needed very much. He looked hopefully 
at the house, but no one was there to 
speak to him. Sadly he resumed his wan¬ 
derings, keeping away from the sight and 
sounds of the crowded street where the 
elephant had frightened him. 

He turned corner after corner, always 
hopeful that he would see something or 
some one that he knew. He was panting 
in the hot sun, and trotted verv slowly, 
tired, thirsty again, forlorn, and oh, so 


RUSTY AND THE ELEPHANT 241 

hungry! He stopped at the next corner, 
undecided which way to go. Suddenly he 
raced up the street with little joyful barks, 
for there beside an automobile stood his 
big mistress and Mrs. Robbins. 

Rusty didn’t know how he had found 
them. He was too well satisfied after his 
experiences to find any friend to care how 
he had done it. He leaped up on Mrs. 
Abbott, talked to her, and was exclaimed 
over by both ladies. They could not im¬ 
agine what could have happened, for he 
had no leash and no one of their party was 
in sight. 

Knowing that the others eventually 
would return to the cars as had been 
agreed, they wisely decided to remain 
there and to keep Rusty with them. To 
be certain that he did not get away from 
them, Mrs. Abbott unlocked the car and 
they all got in. Rusty, thirsty, hungry, 
and very tired, still trembling a little from 
his fright, tried hard to make his mistress 


242 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


understand that nothing that had hap¬ 
pened was his fault. 

Anxiously the two ladies watched for 
the appearance of the others, knowing 
they were looking everywhere for the 
missing dog while he was safe with them. 
Y r et there was nothing they could do but 
wait. They had no idea where they could 
find the others of their party. Rusty, 
having done his best to explain, curled 
down with a sigh to capture forty winks 
as the best way to wait for something to 
eat. 

Suddenly he sat up, growling fiercely! 

“ What’s the matter, Rusty? ” Mrs. 
Abbott asked, trying to calm him by play¬ 
ing with one of his long silky ears. 

Rusty’s answer was a succession of 
barks as he sprang to the window in an 
effort to see what had disturbed him. 
Seeing nothing he leaped to the other side, 
barking fiercely all the time. 

The rear of the car began to rise into 


RUSTY AND THE ELEPHANT 243 


the air! Cries of fright from the ladies 
mingled with Rusty’s furious barking! 
As Mrs. Abbott opened the door, Rusty 
shot out. 

“ Rusty. Rusty! Come here,” his 
mistress cried. “ He’ll get away again 
and-” 

She stopped in amazement. Rusty was 
snapping at the hind feet of a huge ele¬ 
phant that just then dropped the rear end 
of the car he had been lifting from the 
street with his trunk. His trainer was 
clinging with his elephant hook to one ear 
of the huge beast, and running toward 
them on the sidewalk was Mr. Abbott, fol¬ 
lowed by all the others, all shouting at 
Rusty. 

Harry Brackley ran into the street, 
picked up the little dog, and handed him 
to Betty. It was a very exciting time. 

With the elephant once more on his way 
to move a circus wagon that had become 
stuck in soft sand down by the railroad 



244 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


station, everybody began explaining at 
once, which took a long time. Betty, a 
little teary with relief at having found her 
pet safe and sound, hugged him close in 
her arms and told him again and again 
what a brave dog he was to have attacked 
an elephant that was going to hurt her 
mother. Harry exhibited the broken snap 
of the leash to prove that it had not been 
his fault that Rusty had got away from 
him, and Mrs. Abbott told how Rusty had 
found her. 

Nothing could make Betty believe but 
that her pet had understood their plans to 
meet at the car and that he had gone di¬ 
rectly there after the elephant had fright¬ 
ened him. The other children were 
equally certain that the happy ending was 
due to Rusty’s smartness. Which was 
satisfactory to Rusty. 

Considering all the excitement, it was 
a wonder that any of them had an appetite 
for lunch. But they did, all of them. 


RUSTY AND THE ELEPHANT 245 


Yet, hungry as they were, had it not been 
for the attention Mrs. Abbott and Mrs. 
Robbins devoted to their young guests, 
they would have eaten little because of 
their interest in the strange scenes of a 
busy restaurant. 

But the meal was finished at last, even 
Rusty being satisfied with what he had 
managed to gather from the offerings of 
the five children and a few really sizable 
bits Mr. Robbins had fed him, Mr. Abbott 
being on his good behavior for fear of a 
public scolding by his wife. 

“ Now,” said Mr. Abbott as they left * 
the restaurant, “ you folks go along to the 
circus. Rusty and I have had enough ex¬ 
citement for one day.” So Rusty spent 
the afternoon of that circus day in the 
rear of a big booth, dreaming of a big 
animal that blew him up into the air, while 
his master talked with an acquaintance he 
had made earlier in the day. 

It was a tired and sleepy crowd that 


246 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


started for home late that afternoon, and 
a still more tired one that stopped at the 
Braekley home, where Belle had to be 
awakened, for she had fallen sound asleep. 

As Mr. Abbott was preparing to retire 
that night, he called the attention of 
Betty’s mother to the fact that he had re¬ 
marked that Rusty would be a nuisance. 

“ There is just one more thing I want 
to try that dog on,” he said. “ That’s a 
trip in one of the glass-bottom boats at 
Silver Springs. I want to know what 
crazy thing he will do when he sees the 
* fish.” 

“ I guess that will be as safe as attend¬ 
ing a circus at Winter Haven,” Mrs. 
Abbott replied with a very, very tired 
yawn. 


CHAPTER XIV 


RUSTY SEES THE TURTLES 

Rusty’s life after that eventful day at 
the circus settled down to a regular sched¬ 
ule. He had his runs almost daily after 
the rabbits that lived in the brush pile and 
which, Mr. Travers insisted, took turns in 
giving Rusty his daily exercise. His 
friendship with Flossie had become so 
strong that she frequently came to lunch 
with him while her mother remained in the 
back yard, scolding and refusing to ven¬ 
ture up the steps. Every school day 
Rusty rode to school and back, helping to 
do the marketing by sitting in the car 
while his master or mistress or Mr. Rob¬ 
bins went into one of the big markets and 
brought out many bundles. 

It was while on one of those trips that 
Mr. Abbott forgot to close one of the win- 

247 


248 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


dows and a cat tempted Rusty. He 
barked at her from the car, but she was a 
wise old cat and, seeing Rusty as she sup¬ 
posed safely imprisoned in the automobile, 
she went along about her business. 

That was too much for Rusty. When 
he barked, he expected a cat to step lively. 
He made that long jump to the ground, 
stumbled forward so far that he bumped 
his nose, but was up instantly and in full 
pursuit. The cat, being very, very wise 
about the ways of dogs, waited until 
Rusty was close behind her, then whirled 
suddenly, arched her back, and unsheathed 
her claws. 

Rusty shied in a wide circle and kept 
right on running! That cat was much 
mistaken if she thought he was chasing 
her! No, indeed. Not when he had rab¬ 
bits that had no claws, and a goat, and 
even an elephant to chase. He came to a 
corner where traffic was heavy, and 
stopped to decide what to do. 


RUSTY SEES THE TURTLES 249 


He had never been alone in the city be¬ 
fore. If it hadn’t been for the open win¬ 
dow and that cat he would be waiting in 
the automobile. A lady paused to pet 
him. A man said, “ Hello.” But Rusty 
paid no attention to them. The big man 
in the blue uniform out there in the street 
looked like a friend of his. He dodged 
ahead of an automobile to reach the place 
and stop where this friend was waving 
his arms and blowing a whistle. The 
officer looked down in surprise at him, 
after a passing motorist had attracted his 
attention by pointing to Rusty. 

“ Well, friend, where did you come 
from? ” the big policeman asked. “ Stay 
right where you are until these machines 
get by us and I’ll see what I can do for 
you. You’re that dog that belongs to 
that family from up North. You remem¬ 
ber me, don’t you? ” 

“ Woof,” said Rusty. 



250 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


“ Sure you do. Where’s your car? 
How’d you get out, anyway? ” 

Rusty of course couldn’t tell him, but 
the big friend had not worn that blue uni¬ 
form a long time without learning to re¬ 
member cars and people. He stooped 
and picked up Rusty. 

“ I’ll bet vour folks are in the market,” 
he said. “ We’ll look along for a Massa¬ 
chusetts car that looks like yours and see 
if you don’t recognize it.” 

“ Abbott,” he said to himself, reading 
the name on Rusty’s collar. “And there’s 
a little girl in that family who’ll miss you 
if we don’t find your master or mistress.” 

Rusty tried to kiss him. But he had 
been a friend of dogs too long. They 
stopped beside the car just as Mr. Ab¬ 
bott, his arms filled with bundles, came 
out of the market. 

Rusty greeted him with a yip. 

His master was so surprised that he al¬ 
most dropped his bundles. He looked 


RUSTY SEES THE TURTLES 251 

from Rusty to the officer, because he could 
not understand how Rusty was out of the 
car. 

“ I arrested him for blocking traffic 
down at my corner,” the officer explained 
with a grin. “ I thought I recognized 
him, and I remembered your car. Guess 
he got out of that window,” pointing to 
the one Mr. Abbott had neglected to close. 

“ Yip,” said Rusty. 

“ Mr. Officer,” said Mr. Abbott, “ don’t 
ever own a spaniel. They are too much 
for any one person to handle. Last week 
this one tackled an elephant at Winter 
Haven.” 

The officer laughed as he pulled gently 
one of those floppy ears of the little dog. 
“ I’ll take him off your hands if you’re 
tired of him,” he said. 

Mr. Abbott, having placed the bundles 
in the car, turned and looked hard at 
Rusty, pretending to be considering 
whether to give him away or not. At last 


252 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


he shook his head and took Rusty. “ I 
might, but I’m a little afraid my daughter 
might not like it,” he said. 

“ And perhaps that lady of yours would 
have something to say,” suggested the 
officer. 

“ Perhaps,” agreed Rusty’s master. 

“ And then perhaps you’d decide that 
you would keep him,” the officer laughed. 

“ He’s just a black nuisance; bothers 
the life out of me,” declared Mr. Abbott 
as he got into the car and waved a salute. 
Rusty said good-bye and thanks with two 
yips. 

All the way home Mr. Abbott grum¬ 
bled and scolded, demanding to know 
what made the little dog leave the car, and 
telling him that if he ever let his mistress 
know that his master had left a window 
open he would give him away to the very 
first person he saw. 

“ Woof,” said Rusty in saying that he 
guessed they had both better keep still 


RUSTY SEES THE TURTLES 253 


about that morning’s adventure. Rusty 
wasn’t very proud of dodging that cat, 
and certainly his master didn’t wish to 
risk a scolding for leaving that window 
open so Rusty could get out. 

Neither one of them thought of the po¬ 
liceman friend ever saying anything about 
it, so both were very much surprised a 
week later to have Betty ask what day it 
had been that Rusty was picked up by a 
policeman who knew him. 

“Picked up by a policeman!” ex¬ 
claimed Mrs. Abbott, looking at her hus¬ 
band in surprise. “ I haven’t heard about 
that!” 

“ I’m surprised,” said Mr. Abbott sol¬ 
emnly as he looked at Rusty, his eyes 
twinkling. “ What were you arrested for, 
sir? Robbing a lunch-room? ” 

Rusty tried to turn the conversation 
from that subject. He put his head be¬ 
neath the table and sneezed, spoke softly 
and then tried to kiss Betty. But she was 



254 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


determined to find out. She paid no at¬ 
tention to him. Instead, she looked at her 
father severely and slowly shook her 

i 

finger at him. 

“ The big officer at the corner near the 
center asked me this noon when we girls 
were walking after lunch if I didn’t OAvn a 
black spaniel. Then he told me about 
finding Rusty.” 

Mr. Abbott pretended for a minute that 
he couldn’t imagine what Betty was talk¬ 
ing about, but when every one but Rusty 
insisted on knowing the truth, he told the 
story. Still he protested that Rusty, be¬ 
ing so intelligent, must have opened the 
window himself. Rusty said two hearty 
woofs to help out the story, but neither 
Betty nor her mother believed a word 
about his opening the window. 

“ I am afraid that I shall have to go 
with you to the city, for evidently it is not 
safe to trust Rusty to your care,” Mrs. 
Abbott said with a deep sigh. “ I did 


RUSTY SEES THE TURTLES 255 


think you thought enough of us not to let 
anything happen to him.” 

“ Well, you and Betty take care of him 
Saturday when we go to Silver Springs,” 
replied Mr. Abbott. “ Then nothing pos¬ 
sibly can happen to him.” 

And Rusty, glad that the conversation 
had been turned from the story of that 
unfortunate morning in the city, ap¬ 
plauded the decision for the next trip. 

“ This is the last long trip we shall be 
able to make,” Mr. Abbott said Saturday 
morning as they were driving toward Sil¬ 
ver Springs. “ I hope you will get 
Rusty safely back, because next week we 
must start for home and I wouldn’t want 
to be obliged to leave him behind to chew 
up elephants and alligators and be 
arrested. 

Betty clung a little tighter to the new 
leash that had been bought to replace the 
one that had broken at Winter Haven. 
“I’ll keep him with me every minute,” 


256 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


she promised. “ He never gets away 
from me.” 

“ If we should leave him in the car, we 
would not leave a window wide open,” 
said Mrs. Abbott with just the flicker of 
a smile. 

No one could tell when Rusty yipped 
twice whether he was in favor of having a 
window left open or not. But he looked 
straight at his master when he spoke, 
which caused that gentleman to say that 
even Rusty took sides against him. 

At the Springs, objection was made to 
having Rusty go in a boat. The proprie¬ 
tor explained that other passengers might 
not like it. Mr. Abbott promptly settled 
that by engaging one of the smaller boats 
for his own party exclusively. 

The center of the bottom of the boat 
was of heavy glass, the passengers seated 
on each side looking down over a low 
board wall that protected the glass from 
their feet. Betty held Rusty firmly on 


RUSTY SEES THE TURTLES 257 


her lap as they started off over the crystal 
clear water. The boatman steered them 
here and there over springs that bubbled 
up from the bottom and in which gay-col¬ 
ored fish and turtles with bright yellow 
spots on their backs swam lazily back and 
forth. 

At first, Rusty wanted to hang over the 
outside of the boat as he was accustomed 
to do at camp. But once he had caught 
sight of a bright-colored fish through the 
glass bottom, he was satisfied to watch 
there, whining and speaking little excited 
woofs. 

The boatman, as he steered his craft 
hither and thither, explained the names 
that had been given to the different 
springs and answered Betty’s excited 
questions concerning the names of the 
different fish they saw. 

All had forgotten Rusty in their keen 
interest in the sights beneath them. He 
watched with them the changing scene 


258 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


through the glass bottom until, as they 
ran very close to one shore, he caught sight 
over the side of two gay-colored turtles 
crawling lazily on a moss-covered log. 
They could be chased! 



HE HAD MADE ONE WILD LEAP FOR THE LOG 


Before Betty knew it he had made one 
wild leap for the log, but her hold on the 
leash was just strong enough to check him 




































RUSTY SEES THE TURTLES 259 


in the air before she lost her hold. Conse¬ 
quently Rusty, instead of landing on the 
log, went splashing into the water! 

Betty cried out. Mrs. Abbott ex¬ 
claimed, “ Betty! ” Mr. Abbott, knowing 
well that Rusty was perfectly safe in the 
water, said, “ Ahem. You might think 
that I was in charge of that black nui¬ 
sance. But I am not. A young lady who 
told me that she never let him get away 
has full care of him.” 

The boatman, who had stopped his 
motor, grinned as he threw it into reverse 
and in a moment had steered close enough 
to the log from which the turtles had dis¬ 
appeared when Rusty went overboard, 
and on which Rusty was still trying to 
climb. 

Mr. Abbott caught the leash trailing in 
the water and, catching Rusty with the 
other hand, lifted him to the bow of the 
boat, where, of course, he was well spat¬ 
tered when the little dog shook himself 


260 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


and then looked back at the log and 
whined. 

His master wiped his damp face and 
looked down at his sadly spotted white 
suit. 

“ It’s just as well that we are going 
home next week,” he said. “If we make 
any more trips, something will happen to 
this dog that may prove more disastrous 
than spoiling a suit of clothes.” 

“ Perhaps it is just as well,” Mrs. Ab¬ 
bott agreed. “ I shall be sorry to leave, 
but very glad to get back where things are 
normal once more.” 

Betty was very quiet on the ride home 
as she held Rusty on her lap. 

“ I shall be sorry to leave Sally and all 
the pretty things down here,” she said. 
“ Won’t you, Rusty? ” 

“ Woof,” Rusty agreed, opening one 
eye for a moment, for he was very sleepy. 


CHAPTER XV 


RUSTY ARRIVES HOME AGAIN 

“ I’m going to miss you, little fellow,” 
Mr. Travers said Sunday morning follow¬ 
ing the trip to Silver Springs as they were 
walking down through the orange grove 
while Rusty’s family was at church. “ I 
wouldn’t mind a bit if Bettv decided that 
she didn’t want you any longer, and gave 
you to me.” 

“ Woof,” said Rusty a little doubtfully. 
He liked this man who made friends with 
birds and squirrels and who understood 
how little dogs liked to be treated. But 
he had said something about Betty that 
Rusty was not sure he approved. 

They stopped at the brush pile, of 
course. Mr. Travers even gave it a kick 

261 


262 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


or two, but none of the little brown rab¬ 
bits felt like a run that morning. They 
continued to the home of the squirrel at 
the far end of the grove, where Mr. 
Travers left some nuts in a certain place 
and then they went back to his apartment, 
where Rusty could play with him a few 
minutes and then have his Sunday morn¬ 
ing nap on the big couch with two pillows 
at his back for comfort while Mr. Travers 
read. 

It was evident to Rusty at dinner that 
something out of the ordinary was about 
to happen. Betty was very quiet. When 
immediately after dinner his big mistress 
began to open drawers and closets and get 
out suitcases and grips, nothing more was 
necessary to tell a little spaniel that they 
were about to go somewhere. ITe helped 
to look over things, as he always did. 

“ I wish you would walk down and see 
Sally and take this nuisance with you,” 
Betty’s father said to her as he dragged 


RUSTY ARRIVES HOME AGAIN 263 


Rusty from a closet where he was prepar¬ 
ing to bring out shoes. “ Your mother 
and I can get so much more done that we 
are sure will remain done if Rusty is out 
of our way. We have lived through these 
three months in spite of him, although we 
have had some narrow squeaks, and I 
don’t want to have him wreck us at the 
last moment.” 

So Rusty went on his last visit to Peter. 
While Betty and Sally talked and talked, 
and promised and promised to write every 
week and tell everything that had hap¬ 
pened to each other, Rusty and Peter 
went through their pretended battle that 
they both enjoyed every time Rusty was 
at the Robbins’ home. 

It was then so late in the winter season 
that even in the interior of Florida the 
weather had become so warm that children 
were playing in the shallow water of the 
lake. Several of them had tiny playboats, 
which they upset, spilling each other 


264 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


into the water with loud shouts and much 
splashing. 

Betty and Sally, hearing the shouts, de¬ 
cided to walk down to the beach and 
watch the fun, for neither of the girls was 
a swimmer. 

Rusty, busily engaged in trying to 
dodge his way up the front steps which 
Peter was defending so valiantly, let the 
girls get well started on their way before 
he answered Betty’s call of “ Hi, Rusty. 
Come on.” Then he raced after them, 
shouts of the children in the water mak¬ 
ing him certain that he was headed for 
some fun. 

He overtook the girls just as they 
reached the little beach and exactly in 
time to see two little girls upset from their 
small boat and go splashing into the 
water with shrieks of laughter. 

Without pausing, Rusty leaped in, too, 
with a great splash, and swam with all his 
speed to the rescue! Little girls scream- 


RUSTY ARRIVES HOME AGAIN 265 


ing in the water meant to him that they 
needed his help! But the girls, who were 
standing with the water up to their shoul¬ 
ders trying to right their boat, didn’t 



SWAM WITH ALL HIS SPEED 


know Rusty. They saw him swimming 
toward them snapping at the bubbles and 
barking to tell them he was coming. They 
screamed in real fright, and hurriedly 
waded to the shore. 

Rusty turned and swam after them, 


















266 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


while Betty and Sally called to them not 
to be afraid, that Rusty was only trying 
to help them. As the water shoaled near 
the shore, they made better time in their 
frantic rush to escape from the dog. 
Betty and Sally met them and quieted 
their fears as Rusty came out of the water 
and shook himself over all four. Betty 
was provoked, and scolded Rusty for wet¬ 
ting their Sunday dresses. But Rusty 
didn’t mind. He had rescued two little 
girls who had called for help! 

He wiggled and waved his tail very 
fast until one of them mustered up cour¬ 
age to pat him on his head. That was all 
the thanks he asked. He was ready for 
whatever next needed his attention. That 
proved to be an exciting half-hour in the 
boat and in the water, for in a few minutes 
the little girls had been convinced that 
Rusty was a fine playfellow. Time and 
again he was put in the boat, and time and 
again he was upset into the water with his 


RUSTY ARRIVES HOME AGAIN 267 


two companions, whom he considered that 
he rescued each time. He was so tuckered 
out after the play that he tried to persuade 
Betty to carry him back to Sally’s home. 
But because he was wet, she refused. 

With many a lingering look behind, he 
slowly followed Betty and Sally, the 
water dripping from his long, silky coat 
which dried, however, very rapidly in the 
hot sun. By the time he reached his own 
home, his coat was not even damp. He 
waited impatiently for Betty to open the 
door, because when he had left the house, 
preparations were being made to go 
somewhere. 

He shot his little body inside the instant 
the door was opened and raced from suit¬ 
case to bag and into the bedrooms. Back 
to the sitting-room he trotted, where Mr. 
and Mrs. Abbott were reading parts of 
the same Sunday paper. He looked re¬ 
proachfully at his master. 

“ Ah, hah,” Mr. Abbott jeered at him. 


268 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


“We managed this time to get packed 
without you helping us, didn’t we? ” 

Rusty looked solemnly around the 
room. “ Woof,” he said. Without an¬ 
other look at any of his family, he went 
into Betty’s bedroom and, very much out 
of sorts, although he had had a glorious 
time in the water with the children, he 
snuggled down and went to sleep, won¬ 
dering where the family could be going 
this time. He had begun to regard the 
cottage as home. In fact, he hadn’t given 
a thought to Rex or Mittens and her kit¬ 
tens for long, long weeks. He had had 
too many other things to think about. 
He had become accustomed to eating his 
meals in the kitchen without the company 
of Mittens daintily eating hers from a dish 
at the side of his under the sink. 

Instead of Rusty or Betty being the 
first to awaken the next morning, it was 
Mr. Abbott himself who called to them 
to get up, because they had many things 


RUSTY ARRIVES HOME AGAIN 269 


to attend to before they could get started 
on their long journey North. Even 
though he had missed much of the prepa¬ 
rations for going away the afternoon be¬ 
fore, and still more of them that had been 
accomplished after he and Betty had gone 
to bed, he found some things to help about 
that morning. And he did his best. He 
would have done more, only Mr. Travers, 
who stopped to ask if he could be of as¬ 
sistance, called him for a last romp 
through the grove. 

“ You could be lots of help, my friend,” 
Mr. Abbott told Mr. Travers, “ if you 
would get this good-for-nothing dog out 
of the house and keep him away until we 
can get these last things packed and be 
sure that we haven’t got him tied in with 
some of them.” 

But they came back before everything 
was packed in the car and, although Betty 
was charged with holding him, he suc¬ 
ceeded in tripping his master once and 


270 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


managed it so that he received the most 
sympathy because of his yelping about 
one foot that had been stepped on. 

“ Nobody is sorry for me,” grumbled 
his master, “ although I know my right 
shin is skinned from end to end.” 

After many good-byes to Mr. Travers 
and promises to return another winter if 
possible, they finally got started on the 
long trip home. After the first few miles 
every one settled down for the long grind. 
And that included Rusty, who knew as 
well as did the others that this was no 
ordinary ride. 

Seven days later Rusty, sitting on 
Betty’s lap trembling with excitement 
that he caught from Betty, suddenly 
barked to call attention to the fact that 
he was seeing things that were familiar. 

In a very few minutes more they had 
turned into a street of which Rusty knew 
every inch. His barking, hanging out of 
the window, was answered by a great deep 


RUSTY ARRIVES HOME AGAIN 271 


“ Woof, woof,” from the rear of the yard. 
Rex, the big St. Bernard, had recognized 
the voice of his little friend, and was an¬ 
swering from away down by the garage. 

Rusty was the first out, Betty unfasten¬ 
ing his leash that he might not be handi¬ 
capped. James and Mandy and Sarah 
came hurrying to welcome them back, and 
from the house came also Aunt Carrie and 
Miss Wisters, who, Rusty instantly re¬ 
membered, did not approve of little dogs. 
But he didn’t care. They didn’t count 
with him. 

James was playing with him, and even 
Rex crouched down and acted as if he 
would run and dodge if it were not such 
hard work. 

And when from the rear of the house 
came Mittens, Rusty was nearly beside 
himself. He rushed for her and, while she 
laid back her ears and crouched down, he 
kissed and kissed her until she was almost 
as wet as if she had fallen into a pond. 


272 


RUSTY’S TRAVELS 


The Abbotts and Rusty were home 
again. 



RUSTY WAS NEARLY BESIDE 
HIMSELF 




ml 





OCT 5 


1931 






































































